Synthesis of metallic Zn microprisms, their growth mechanism and PL properties

Novel metallic Zn hexagonal hollow microprisms have been synthesized by a simple thermal evaporation technique using NH3 as a carrier gas under atmospheric pressure. As-prepared hollow microprisms were characterized using X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The hollow microprisms collected on silicon substrate are found to be 3–7 μm long with diameter in the range 900–950 nm. A vapour–solid (VS) process based growth mechanism has been proposed for the formation of hexagonal Zn microprisms grown along (0001) basal plane in [0001] direction. Photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum of zinc microprisms at room temperature exhibited a very prominent peak at 384 nm owing to the radiative recombination of electrons in s, p conduction band near Fermi surface and the holes in the d bands generated by optical excitation.