Shape control of cathodized germanium oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

In this paper, hexagonal germanium dioxide (GeO2) nanostructures with different morphologies and sizes were successfully synthesized by a simple and fast electrodeposition method. We investigated the electrochemical growth mechanism and the structural and optical properties of the products through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cathodoluminescence (CL). The results reveal that the electrodeposited GeO2 nanostructures are pure, dense, and highly crystalline. The XRD analyses indicate that the resulting GeO2 crystals only show peaks related to the α-quartz structure. CL measurements exhibit strong blue and green light emissions related to oxygen vacancies in the core of the GeO2 crystals. The resulting nanostructures may have potential application in integrated optical devices in the future.

Keywords

• Electrodeposition
• Crystal growth
• GeO2 nanostructures
• Cathodoluminescence