A Convenient Synthesis Route to the Zinc Metagermanate Nanorods

Zinc metagermanate nanorods have been synthesized by a directly hydrothermal deposition process. The analyses of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) indicate that the products are mainly composed of ternary mixed oxide ZnGeO3 with multi-crystalline rhombohedral phase and porous structure. The observation from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the nanorods have a diameter of 100-600 nm and a length up to 30 μm. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum displays that the nanorods have a strong emission band at a wavelength of 400 nm. The proposed growth mechanism is also discussed in the paper.