Band gap engineering and stimulated emission of ZnMgO nanowires

Abstract

We report a simple method for fabricating heterostructured ZnMgO nanowires by annealing the preformed ZnO/MgO core-shell structure. Photoluminescence from the alloy nanowires shows strong near-band-edge (NBE) emission, reflecting good material quality. A blueshift of the NBE emission at room temperature after the annealing treatment is attributed to the diffusion of Mg from the shell into the core ZnO of the nanowires to form a ternary ZnMgO alloy. Band gap engineering and stimulated emissions of ZnMgO nanowires with different Mg doping concentrations are also demonstrated. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.