Synthesis and characterization of GaP nanochains with a twin-modulated quasi-periodic structure

GaP nanochains have been synthesized by hydrogen-assisted thermal evaporation, and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy. GaP nanochains possess a (111) twin crystal plane-modulated quasi-periodic structure, that gives a strong green photoluminescence at 618 nm. While the Raman spectrum of the nanochains is similar to that of the GaP crystal, the intensity of the longitudinal optical (LO) peak is stronger than that of the transverse optical (TO) peak, which is supposedly related to the nanochain microstructures.