Structural, optical and luminescence studies of ZnSe nanowires

ZnSe nanowires have been successfully synthesized through chemical vapor deposition assisted by laser ablation in a tube furnace on a silicon substrate coated with a gold film of 2 nm thickness. X-ray powder diffraction measurements reveal that the synthesized products had pure hexagonal wurtzite structure. The microstructures and chemical composition of the as-grown nanowires have been investigated by means of electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy. The results reveal that the as-grown material consists of ZnSe nanowires with diameters ranging from 60 – 100 nm and with lengths up to several tens of micrometers. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction indicated that as-synthesized nanowires were single crystalline in nature. Micro-photoluminescence studies on ZnSe nanowire reveal strong emission at 460 nm. The Raman peak at 251 cm−1 is attributed to the longitudinal optic phonon mode of ZnSe.