Thermal CVD synthesis and photoluminescence of SiC/SiO2 core-shell structure nanoparticles

SiC/SiO2 core-shell nanoparticles were firstly successfully synthesized by using a novel route of thermal CVD and thermal annealing process. The properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscope, Transmission electron microscope, and X-ray diffraction. A possible growth mechanism was proposed for the nanoparticles according to the characterization results. The photoluminescence spectrum of the untreated nanoparticles revealed broad visible luminescence emission band. After the annealing treatment, the nanoparticles showed good blue emission, indicating potential applications in blue-light optoelectronic devices. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.