Tunable-white-light-emitting nanowire sources

Tunable-white-light-emitting materials are developed by combining two single-crystal oxide nanowire materials—ZnO and SnO2—having different light emissions. The tuning of white-light emission from cool white to warm white is achieved for the first time by adjusting the growth sequence and growth time of the ZnO and SnO2 nanowires. Combined ZnO:SnO2 nanowire arrays yield a desired emission color from (0.30, 0.31) to (0.35, 0.37) and a white luminescence of ∼ 100 cd m − 2, whose reproducibility can be controlled accurately. These results pave a new way to understand and generate a desired white-light emission, which is a key technology in large-area planar display devices, including flexible and/or transparent display devices.