Fabrication of Co-doped ZnO nanowires and their temperature-dependent ultraviolet emission properties

Co-doped ZnO nanowires have been fabricated through a high temperature vapor–solid deposition process. The temperature-dependent ultraviolet emission properties of Co-doped ZnO nanowires under 10–300 K were reported. The results show that there are multipeak emissions situated at the ultraviolet region. The investigation of the excitonic transition in Co-doped ZnO nanowires shows that there is an intensive ultraviolet periodic emission of Co-doped ZnO nanowires under low temperature. The oscillatory structure has an energy periodicity about 70 meV. The oscillatory structure is mainly attributed to the longitudinal optical phonon replicas of the free exciton. The ultraviolet emission shows an obvious redshift with the increasing temperature.