Recently

there is much interest in the development of wide band gap semiconductor nanowires

because the cylindrical geometry and strong two-dimensional confinement of photons

electrons

and holes make them particularly attractive as potential building blocks for nanoscale optoelectronic devices. Semiconductor nanostructures with modulated composition have been known to enhance new functions and properties

such as GaAs/GaP uperlattice

core-shell structured Si-Ge nanowires

and core-shell Zn-ZnO nanobelts. To composite nanowires

especially

coaxial nanocables will provide a great possibility to take advantage of different function and properties of different material within a single nanoscale component. Aligned coaxial nanocables were grown on Si substrates by a vapor deposition technique. Zn powders were placed on a quartz boat and positioned at the center of a quartz tube in a horizontal furnace. After the quartz boat was inserted

the furnace was ramped to 1100℃ and kept at that temperature for 2 h under a N

2

flow rate of 500 sccm. The obtained nanocable arrays had average diameters of about 100 nm and length up to more than

10

μm. Both the shell thickness and the core radius were almost the same

about 25 nm. It has been revealed that the nanocable is grown from the sprout-shaped root and the top ends of the nanocables were typically round without droplet. Together with the XRD pattern and EDS mapping analysis

it can be suggested that the nanocable had a Zn

2

SiO

4

shell and a Zn core. Aunique growth mechanism was proposed for the homogeneous crystallization of Zn-Zn

2

SiO

4

core-shell nanocables. The CL spectra exhibited three distinct peaks: one strong peak at middle-UV region(300 nm) and another two weak bands at visible(560 nm) and infrared(865 nm) regions. The UV emission was attributed to the thin double-layer structure in the Zn-Zn

2

SiO

4

core-shell nanocable where the Zn

2

SiO

4

shell has the potential to serve as more ideal luminophors.