Spatial luminescent properties and growth mechanism of one- and two-dimensional ZnO complexes

Unique ZnO nanocomplexes of one-dimensional nanorods combined with two-dimensional hexagonal plates are fabricated by a chemical vapor deposition method without using any catalysts. Cathodoluminescence images show that the green emission from the nanoplate is much stronger than that from the nanorod, which suggests the oxygen vacancies are more abundant in the ZnO nanoplates. Our study finds that the growth of one-dimensional ZnO nanorods and low-dimensional ZnO complexes can be switched by directly controlling the source oxygen.