Synthesis and photoluminescence of SiOx nanotubes

Amorphous SiOx nanotubes with homogeneous diameters were fabricated in large-scale on silicon substrate by thermal evaporation method, with liquid gallium as medium. The average diameter of tubes is about 80 nm and the length is more than 10 mu m, with small ratio between the inner and outer diameter of the tube. The silicon element in the substrate and the residual oxygen element in reaction chamber were first dissolved into liquid Ga. Then the SiOx precipitated from the surface of gallium droplet, forming the nanotube structure with Ga droplet being the center. The room temperature photoluminescence measurements under excitation at 260 nm show that the SiOx nanotubes has a strong blue emission at 453 urn with two shoulders at 410 and 480 nm respectively, which may be related to oxygen defects. The preparation method improved the traditional complicated method and also provided a new way to fabricate SiOx nanotubes in large quantity.