Emission characteristics of diameter controlled SnO2 nanowires

► Diameter of SnO2 nanowires grown by using CVD method can be controlled by changing the thickness of gold film as catalysts. ► The yellow emission peak (∼590nm) intensity was found to be proportional to the diameter of the nanowires. ► The luminescence peak intensity and energy exhibit non-Arrhenius type temperature dependence. ► This is due to the fact that the deep level exciton transition at low temperature transforms to the surface bound exciton transition with increasing temperature.