Growth and optical properties of peculiar ZnO tetrapods

Regular ZnO tetrapods with different morphologies have been obtained on Si(100) substrate via the chemical vapour deposition approach. Varying the growth temperature and gas rate, we have obtained different structured ZnO materials: tetrapods with a large hexagonal crown, a flat top and a small hexagonal crown. The results suggest that these tetrapods are all single crystals with a wurtzite structure that grow along the (0001) direction. However, photoluminescence spectra shows that their optical properties are quite different: for those with large hexagonal crown, the green emission overwhelms that of the near band-edge (NBE) ultraviolet (UV) peak, while others have only a strong NBE UV peak at ~386 nm.