Gang Peng (彭刚)1(), Xiaoyan Yu (于晓燕)2, Yan-Lan He (何焰兰)1, Gong-Yi Li (李公义)1, Yi-Xing Liu (刘一星)1, Xinfang Zhang (张鑫方)1, Xue-Ao Zhang (张学骜)1
1. college of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China 2. School of Electronic & Communication Engineering, Guiyang University, Guiyang 550005, China
The quantum confinement effect is important in nanoelectronics and optoelectronics applications; however, there is a discrepancy between the theory of quantum confinement, which indicates that band-gap widening occurs only at small sizes, and experimental observations of band-gap widening in large-diameter nanowires (NWs). This paper reports an obvious blue shift of the absorption edge in the UV-visible absorption spectra of SiC NWs with diameters of 50–300 nm. On the basis of quantum confinement theory and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of SiC NWs, band-gap widening in SiC NWs with diameters of up to hundreds of nanometers is fully explained; the results could help to explain similar band-gap widening in other NWs with large diameters.
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