Optical properties and characterization of zinc nitride nanoneedles prepared from ball-milled Zn powders

Waheed S. Khan, Chuanbao Cao*, Dong Yu Ping, Ghulam Nabi, Sajad Hussain, Faheem K. Butt, Tai Cao

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Zinc nitride nanoneedles (ZNNs) with diameters at stem and tip parts as 200-300 nm and 30-70 nm respectively have been prepared by the nitridation of ball-milled zinc powders at 600 °C for 120 min under NH3 gas environment. The structural, compositional and morphological characterizations of the product were conducted by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. From transmission spectrum data, an indirect band gap of 2.72 eV has been calculated for ZNNs whereas photoluminescence studies exhibited a strong UV excitonic mission band at 395 nm as well as two weak defect related blue emissions at 453 and 465 nm. A vapor-solid (VS) process based growth mechanism for the formation of ZNNs has also been discussed briefly.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1264-1267
Number of pages4
JournalMaterials Letters
Volume65
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 May 2011

Keywords

  • Nanocrystalline materials
  • Optical properties
  • Semiconductors

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Khan, W. S., Cao, C., Ping, D. Y., Nabi, G., Hussain, S., Butt, F. K., & Cao, T. (2011). Optical properties and characterization of zinc nitride nanoneedles prepared from ball-milled Zn powders. Materials Letters, 65(9), 1264-1267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2011.01.040