One-step synthesis and enhanced blue emission of carbon-encapsulated single-crystalline ZnSe nanoparticles

Carbon-encapsulated ZnSe nanoparticles with diameters about 50 nm were synthesized by noncatalytic one-step thermal evaporation method. The ZnSe cores have a wurtzite crystal structure. The as-synthesized products are uniform and composed of single-crystalline ZnSe nanoparticles enwrapped with polycrystalline graphite layers. The photoluminescence measurement of the carbon-encapsulated nanoparticles shows that the blue emission enhances dramatically compared with the naked ZnSe nanoparticles. This synthetic strategy might exploit a favorable route to synthesize carbon-encapsulated semiconductor nanostructures, which are potentially important for optoelectronic nanodevices. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.