Growth of ZnMoO4 nanowires via vapor deposition in air

Triclinic ZnMoO4 nanowires are synthesized by vapor deposition in air. The morphology, crystal structure, optical absorption and photoluminescence (PL) of the obtained ZnMoO4 nanowires are characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse UV-vis reflectance spectroscopy and PL spectrophotometry, respectively. The synthesized ZnMoO4 nanowires are about 4.3 µm in length and 50 nm in diameter, exhibiting a high aspect ratio of 86. Under the 325 nm laser excitation, ZnMoO4 nanowires exhibit a broad green PL band centered at around 560 nm. Our results have demonstrated that vapor deposition in air is an easy and cost-effective method to produce large quantities of single-crystalline ZnMoO4 nanowires. All we need is the precursor of ZnMoO4 and an air-filled box furnace.