High-yield synthesized silver orthophosphate nanowires and their application in photoswitch

Abstract

Large-scale, high-purity and uniform silver orthophosphate (Ag₃PO₄) nanowires had been synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method without employing any surfactants or templates for the first time. The nanowires were single-crystalline with lengths up to several micrometers. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-prepared products. The as-prepared Ag₃PO₄ nanowires exhibited linear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and excellent photoresponse. As the light was switched on and off, the currents could be reversibly switched between high and low value at the voltage of 0.1 V, which will find wide application in optoelectronic nanodevices.

Keywords

Ag₃PO₄ nanowires / hydrothermal reaction / photoswitch

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21071106), and the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB934502).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg