In-doped ZnO nanowires were successfully fabricated by thermal evaporation of a powder mixture of Zn, In2O3, and graphite. Field emission of individual In-doped and pure ZnO nanowire was observed in situ by a transmission electron microscopy. The results show that In-doped ZnO nanowires showed an enhanced field emission properties. First-principle density functional calculations were performed to calculate the electronic structure of the In-doped and pure ZnO in order to explain the observed field emission properties. A two-band field emission mechanics was proposed to explain the enhanced field emission from n-type doping.

The mechanical properties of individual zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires, grown by a solid–vapour phase thermal sublimation process, were studied in situ by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a home-made TEM specimen holder. The mechanical resonance is electrically induced by applying an oscillating voltage, and in situ imaging has been achieved simultaneously. The results indicate that the elastic bending modulus of individual ZnO nanowires were measured to be ～58 GPa and the damping time constant of the resonance in a vacuum of 10−8 Torr was ∼14 ms. A nanobalance was built and the mass of the nanoparticle attached at the tip of a nanowire was measured. The ZnO nanowires are promising in potential applications as nanocantilevers and nanoresonators.

High quality ZnO comb-like nanostructures have been fabricated in high yields through oxidative evaporation of pure zinc powder without catalyst at 600-650℃. SEM, FE-SEM and HRTEM observations showed that the resulting ZnO nanostructures have two main types of single crystal morphology. Investigations through HRTEM and XRD revealed that the growth of the synthesized ZnO nanostructures was controlled by a vapor-solid (VS) mechanism. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the nanocombs showed a UVemission at ～385 nm and a broad green emission at ～495nm. Such novel structures are promising for applications in some special fields.