White light emission from CdS/Si nanoheterostructure array

•A CdS/Si nanoheterostructure array is prepared by the chemical bath deposition method.•Under the excitation of 350 nm, white light emission from the CdS/Si-NPA is observed.•The chromaticity coordinate, CCT and CRI are (0.29, 0.36), 8226 K and 66.0, respectively.

A CdS/Si nanoheterostructure array (CdS/Si-NPA) is fabricated by depositing CdS nanocrystals (nc-CdS) on the silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) through a chemical bath deposition method. White light emission from the CdS/Si-NPA is observed under the excitation of 350 nm, which originates from the color mixing of blue emission from Si-NPA and green and red emissions from nc-CdS. The chromaticity coordinate, correlative color temperature and color rendering index are (0.29, 0.36), 8226 K and 66.0, respectively. The chromaticity coordinates are insensitive to the excitation wavelength between 320 nm and 350 nm. It is suggested that the CdS/Si-NPA might be a kind of potential phosphor in the white light diode.