Influence of Polyethyleneimine and Ammonium on the Growth of ZnO Nanowires by Hydrothermal Method

Abstract

In this study, ZnO nanowire arrays were prepared using a hydrothermal method. During growth, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and ammonia were added to adjust the structure and optical properties of the ZnO nanowires. Emission analysis revealed visible photoluminescence emissions from ZnO nanowires produced under various growth conditions. To correlate the relationship between visible emissions and structural defects in ZnO nanowires, we employed X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to characterize the coordination number and bond length of the ZnO nanowires. On the basis of analytical results, we determined that the red emission is attributed to interstitial zinc defects (Zni) and the yellow emission is attributed to interstitial oxygen defects (Oi).