Issue 5, 2016

Detection of quantum well induced single degenerate-transition-dipoles in ZnO nanorods

Abstract

Quantifying and characterising atomic defects in nanocrystals is difficult and low-throughput using the existing methods such as high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In this article, using a defocused wide-field optical imaging technique, we demonstrate that a single ultrahigh-piezoelectric ZnO nanorod contains a single defect site. We model the observed dipole-emission patterns from optical imaging with a multi-dimensional dipole and find that the experimentally observed dipole pattern and model-calculated patterns are in excellent agreement. This agreement suggests the presence of vertically oriented degenerate-transition-dipoles in vertically aligned ZnO nanorods. The HRTEM of the ZnO nanorod shows the presence of a stacking fault, which generates a localised quantum well induced degenerate-transition-dipole. Finally, we elucidate that defocused wide-field imaging can be widely used to characterise defects in nanomaterials to answer many difficult questions concerning the performance of low-dimensional devices, such as in energy harvesting, advanced metal-oxide-semiconductor storage, and nanoelectromechanical and nanophotonic devices.

Graphical abstract: Detection of quantum well induced single degenerate-transition-dipoles in ZnO nanorods

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Sep 2015
Accepted
08 Dec 2015
First published
09 Dec 2015

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 2632-2638

Author version available

Detection of quantum well induced single degenerate-transition-dipoles in ZnO nanorods

S. Ghosh, M. Ghosh, M. Seibt and G. Mohan Rao, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 2632 DOI: 10.1039/C5NR06722G

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