Preparation and characterization of MgO nanorods coated with SnO2

MgO nanorods have been grown by thermal evaporation of Mg3N2 powders on Si (100) substrates coated with gold (Au) thin films. The MgO nanorods grown on Al2O3 (0001) were 0.1-0.2 microm in diameter and up to a few tens of micrometers in length. MgO/SnO2 coaxial nanorods have also been prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) of SnO2 onto the nanorods. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results indicate that the MgO-cores and the SnO2 shells of the annealed coaxial nanorods are of a single crystalline nature with cubic and orthorhombic structures, respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy analysis results show that SnO2 coating slightly increases the PL emission intensity of MgO nanorods. The PL emission of the SnO2-coated MgO nanorods is found to be considerably enhanced by thermal annealing and to strongly depend on the annealing atmosphere. The PL emission intensity of the MgO/SnO2 coaxial nanorods has been significantly increased by annealing in a reducing atmosphere. The origin of the PL enhancement by annealing in a reducing atmosphere is discussed on the basis of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses.