Abstract
Cr-doped ZnO nanostructures, in well-aligned Zn0.92Cr0.06O nanorods array, were synthesized by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering deposition at different temperatures. The effects of growth temperature on the structure and optical properties of Zn0.92Cr0.06O nanorods were investigated in terms of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and spectrophotometer. With increase the growth temperature, Zn0.94Cr0.06O nanorods have a strong improved crystalline quality. High growth temperature enhances the build-in electric field in the depletion region in the grain of the nanorods, which trap free carriers from the bulk of the grains. XPS results shows that Cr3+ ions substitute Zn2+ ions, and no secondary phases in the sample are found, meanwhile the oxygen vacancies decrease with increasing growth temperature. The high growth temperature causes a significant increase in optical transmittance of the Zn0.92Cr0.06O nanorods, which can be attributed to the weakening of scattering and absorption of light because of the increase of grain size. The red shift of the optical band gap can be mostly likely related to the Burstein–Moss effect.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 10575073), A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province for the Higher Education Institutions (11KJB140011), Qing Lan Project, The Program for graduates Research & Innovation in University of Jiangsu Province (No. CXZZ11_0085), Hefei Normal University Research Funding (No. 2012kj01) and Research fund of Key Laboratory for Advanced Technology in Environmental Protection of Jiangsu Province (AE201020).
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Jin, C.G., Yu, T., Wu, Z.F. et al. Effect of growth temperature on characteristics of Cr-doped ZnO nanorods by magnetron sputtering. Appl. Phys. A 109, 173–179 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7030-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7030-3