Intense near-infrared emission from undoped ZnTe nanostructures synthesized by thermal evaporation

This paper reports the synthesis of ZnTe nanostructures with a range of morphologies and sizes using a novel, simple thermal evaporation technique and their luminescence properties. Photoluminescence measurements showed that pure ZnTe nanostructures synthesized at 600 °C by the thermal evaporation of ZnTe nanopowders had an intense emission band centered at ∼810 nm, whereas those of the ZnTe nanostructures obtained at ∼500 and ∼700 °C showed weak emission bands centered at ∼820 and ∼880 nm, respectively. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the intense near-infrared emission was attributed to localized states associated with zinc vacancies.