Optical Properties of Tin Monoxide Nanoshells Prepared via Self-Assembly

Recently, layered IV–VI metal monochalcogenides have attracted a lot of attention because of their unique properties. Among them, tin monoxide (SnO) has been widely studied as thin films for the application in high-mobility p-channel transistor and photoelectricity device fabrication. In this work, we successfully synthesized SnO nanoshells through a facile solution chemical method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images confirmed the morphology of these nanoshells. The surface chemical composition was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Raman and photoluminescence spectra were used to study the optical properties of nanoshells with different sizes, which were formed in different concentrations. We found that the special nanostructure may result in abundant Sn or O vacancies on the surface of nanoshells, and these defects resulted in a broad photoluminescent signal. This work provided a solution synthesis method to prepare SnO and other IV–VI metal monochalcogenides as well as their promising applications in optical device.