ZnO nanowires with europium diffusion process were studied. The ZnO nanowires were grown by chemical vapor deposition on Si substrate with employing Au as catalyst. The diameter of the resulting nanowires was about 200nm with the length of about 1μm. To perform the diffusion process, the ZnO nanowires were placed with an Eu shot in a furnace at 900C. Annealing was performed under vacuum for 1h. From photoluminescence spectra excited by a He-Cd laser at room temperature, the green luminescence of the ZnO nanowires with Eu diffusion process observed at about 515nm was attributed to Eu impurity in ZnO nanowires. Thermal annealing of diffusion process could cause the red shift of near-band-edge emission of ZnO nanowires. From microstructural observations by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, it was found that there existed Eu2O3 formed on the surface of ZnO nanowires after Eu diffusion.

Photoluminescence of ZnO Nanowires with Eu Diffusion Process. Chena, C.W., Pan, C.J., Huang, P.J., Chi, G.C., Chang, C.Y., Ren, F., Pearton, S.J.: ECS Transactions, 2008, 16[12], 13-6