Photoluminescence of Zinc Oxide Nanowires: The Effect of Surface Band Bending

Abstract

The photoluminescence of zinc oxide nanowires was investigated via the thermal annealing treatment in oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor conditions. Dramatic changes in the relative intensity of the ultraviolet and the green visible luminescence were observed following different annealing treatments. The changes in photoluminescence bear little correlation to the changes in the oxygen-to-zinc ratios that were revealed using Raman scattering and other characterization techniques. The chemisorption of oxygen and the subsequent surface band bending, instead of the oxygen vacancy concentration, are shown to be the mechanism that determines the observed changes in photoluminescence.