Synthesis and photoluminescence properties of In₂Ge₂O₇nanobelts

Abstract

Large-scale In2Ge2O7 nanobelts were successfully synthesized by a simple thermal evaporation method without the presence of catalyst. The process of growth of the ternary In2Ge2O7 nanobelts is based on the vapour–solid growth mechanism. Its morphology and microstructures were determined by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The as-synthesized In2Ge2O7 products are single crystals with a monoclinic thortveitite-type structure growing along the [210] direction. The nanobelts have widths of 300–500 nm, thickness of 50–70 nm and lengths ranging from several tens to several hundreds of micrometres. A strong and broad violet emission peak at about 410 nm was observed in the room temperature photoluminescence measurements.