Piqueras De Noriega, Francisco JavierDíaz-Guerra Viejo, CarlosVila Santos, María2023-06-192023-06-192013-01-250925-838810.1016/j.jallcom.2012.08.133https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/33387© 2012 Elsevier B.V. This work has been supported by MICINN through projects MAT2009-07882 and CSD2009-0013. The authors are grateful to E. Magnano, S. Nappini and M. Yablonskikh at the Sincrotron Trieste for useful advices on XPS measurements.α-Bi_2O-3 microcrystals and microrods with pyramidal tips have been grown by a vapour–solid method using pure Bi as starting material. The morphology of the obtained microstructures depends on the annealing temperature and time. At 650 °C and for short annealing times, microcrystals with well defined facets and sizes of tens of microns, as well as clusters of microcrystals, are formed. Microrods were grown at 800 °C, mainly from nucleation sites in the clusters of microcrystals, and reach lengths of hundreds of microns. Micro-Raman spectroscopy measurements reveal the homogeneity of the obtained microstructures regarding the crystalline α-phase. The luminescence properties of the microrods have been investigated by cathodoluminescence in the scanning electron microscope and by photoluminescence in a confocal microscope. The obtained results were correlated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements.engjournal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2012.08.133http://www.sciencedirect.com/restricted access538.9Bismuth OxideOptical-PropertiesThin-FilmsBi_2O_3SpectraSurfaceBismuthsesquioxideEvaporationNanowiresCeramicsFísica de materiales