Growth mechanism of novelty scaly CNFs@ZnO nanofibers structure and its photoluminescence property

Zinc oxide (ZnO), a wide direct band gap semiconductor, has attracted extensive attention for its potential optoelectronic applications, such as coherent ultraviolet light emitters. Pure one-dimensional ZnO, structures such as nanorods and nanowires, etc. inevitably have some crystal defects, which makes them to emit not only in the ultraviolet region but also in the visible range. Photoluminescent ZnO‑carbon nanocomposites are an emerging class of nanomaterials that has spurred a lot of interests due to its attractive optical properties. It has been shown that these composite structures yield an enhanced ultraviolet to visible emission ratio due to improved surface plasmon emission and a new defect emission mechanism. Hence, a novel one-dimensional structure of ZnO and carbon nanofibers composite material has been designed and prepared. The scaly ZnO is completely coated with carbon nanofibers. This new composite structure has strong ultraviolet emission photoluminescence characteristics in combination with low visible emission.