ZnO is a material that has garnered much attention in the fields of optoelectronics and photovoltaics. Although ZnO has favorable properties for these applications, it is challenging to prepare stable p-type structures of this wide bandgap semiconductor. Efforts in doping with either Cu or Sb have shown promising results in forming stable p-type ZnO. However, most methods being utilized today have difficulty in producing scalable and uniform p-type ZnO nanostructures. Here, a novel chemical vapor deposition method utilizing an inner reaction tube resulted in complete substrate coverage and nanorod uniformity in both doped and undoped ZnO. Scanning electron microscopy imaging revealed a decrease in ZnO diameter (130 nm – 100 nm) when doped with Cu and an increase in diameter (130 nm – 300 nm) when doped with Sb. Photoelectronically, a decrease in the bandgap of ZnO was observed upon doping with both metals. In addition, photoluminescence data provides evidence for p-type conductivity due to the expression of V<sub>Zn</sub> in both undoped and doped structures and suppression of V<sub>O</sub> in the Cu and Sb-doped ZnO structures.

Antimony and copper-doping in ZnO nanorods via vapor phase transport and incorporation: Morphological and photoelectronic effects

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.