Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The role of Al doping on ZnO nanowire evolution and optical band gap tuning

  • Published:
Applied Physics A Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this work, the morphological transformation and band gap modulation of ZnO by Aluminum doping has been investigated. Pure ZnO and Aluminum doped Zinc oxide (Al:ZnO) nanostructure have been fabricated using hydrothermal method on the seed layer coated FTO substrates. The prepared samples were investigated with such analytical techniques as Raman spectroscopy, Field Emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Photoluminescence (PL) and spectrophotometer. Raman spectra revealed E2 (high) and E1 (low) vibrational modes for pure ZnO. However, a successive shift in E2 (high) mode towards higher wavenumbers has been observed by placing ZnO with different concentration of Aluminum nitrate nano-hydrate solution (0.1 mM, 0.2 mM and 0.3 mM) confirming the sequential Al incorporation in the ZnO nanostructure. SEM results show the morphological transformation from a typical hexagonal ZnO nano-wire to petal shaped nano-rods with the increase of Al concentration. The optical properties have been investigated using the photoluminescence (PL) and optical transmission. In the PL spectra, pure ZnO nanostructure has UV peak with higher intensity compared to the visible peak. However, the addition of Al in the ZnO causes enhanced emission in the visible region compared to the UV emission. The addition of Al in ZnO nanostructure also modifies the optical band gap of ZnO from 3.2 to 3.15 eV.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. E.P. Bacaksiz, M. Tomakin, A. Ozcelik, M. Karakiz, M. Altunbas, The effect of zinc nitrate, zinc acetate and zinc chloride precursors on investigation of structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films. J. Alloy. Compd. 466, 447–450 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J.C. Wang, B. Fang, P. Lu, S. Deng, H. Wang, Synthesis and characterization of multipod, flower-like, and shuttle-like ZnO frameworks in ionic liquids. Mater. Lett. 59, 1405–1408 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. A.K. Jesionowski, Zinc oxide—from synthesis to application: a review. Materials 7, 2834 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  4. E.A. Dalchiele, P. Giorgi, R.E. Marotti, F. Mart́n, J.R. Ramos-Barrado, R. Ayouci, D. Leinen, Electrodeposition of ZnO thin films on N-Si(100). Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells 70(3), 245–254 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. B.S. Sengar, V. Garg, A. Kumar, V. Awasthi, S. Kumar, V.V. Atuchin, S. Mukherjee, Band alignment of Cd-free (Zn, Mg)O layer with Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)4 and its effect on the photovoltaic properties. Opt. Mater. 84, 748–756 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. M. Kumar, C. Sasikumar, Electrodeposition of nanostructured ZnO Thin film: a review. Am. J. Mater. Sci. Eng. 2(2), 18–23 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  7. V. Garg, B.S. Sengar, V. Awasthi, A. Kumar, R. Singh, S. Kumar, C. Mukherjee, V.V. Atuchin, S. Mukherjee, Investigation of dual-ion beam sputter-instigated plasmon generation in TCOs: a case study of GZO. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10(6), 5464–5474 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. G. Xiong, U. Pal, J.G. Serrano, K.B. Ucer, R.T. Williams, Photoluminescence and FTIR study of ZnO nanoparticles: the impurity and defect perspective. Physica Status Solidi C Curr. Top. Solid State Phys. 3(10), 3577–3581 (2006)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. T. Holloway, R. Mundle, H. Dondapati, R.B. Konda, M. Bahoura, A.K. Pradhan, Al-doped ZnO aligned nanorod arrays for opto-electronic and sensor applications. Nanosens. Biosens. Info-Tech Sens. Syst. 8344, 83440 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  10. F. Maldonado, A. Stashans, Al-doped ZnO: electronic, electrical and structural properties. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 71(5), 784–787 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Li Zan, Qin Wei, Wu Xiaohong, Controllable hydrothermal synthesis of Al-doped ZnO with different microstructures, growth mechanisms, and gas sensing properties. RSC Adv. 5(69), 56325–56332 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. I.K. Bdikin, J. Gracio, R. Ayouchi, R. Schwarz, A. L. Kholkin, Nanotechnology 21(23) (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. A. Nakrela, N. Benramdane, A. Bouzidi, Z. Kebbab, M. Medles, C. Mathieu, Results Phys. 6, 133–138 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. S. Yun, J. Lee, J. Yang, S. Lim, Hydrothermal synthesis of Al-doped ZnO nanorod arrays on Si substrate. Phys B 405(1), 413–419 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. B.V. Shrisha, S. Bhat, D. Kushavah, K. Gopalakrishna Naik, Hydrothermal growth and characterization of Al-doped ZnO nanorods. Mater Today Proc 3(6), 1693–1701 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2016.04.061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. S. Singh, I.K. Park, S.H. Park, Influence of Al doping on structural and optical properties of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods. J. Ceram. Process. Res. 17(3), 218–222 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  17. H. Zheng, R.J. Zhang, D.H. Li, X. Chen, S.Y. Wang, Y.X. Zheng, M.J. Li, Z.G. Hu, N. Dai, L.Y. Chen, Optical properties of Al-doped ZnO films in the infrared region and their absorption applications. Nanoscale Res Lett 13, 149 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. S. Kim, M.S. Kim, G. Nam, J.Y. Leem, Structural and blue emission properties of Al-doped ZnO nanorod array thin films grown by hydrothermal method. Electron. Mater. Lett. 8(4), 445–450 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. N. Tripathy, D.H. Kim, Metal oxide modified ZnO nanomaterials for biosensor applications. Nano Converg. 5(1), 27 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. D.C. Look, Recent advances in ZnO materials and devices. Mater. Sci. Eng. B Solid-State Mater. Adv. Technol. 80(1–3), 383–387 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. J. Han, W. Zhang, W. Chen, S. Ray, J. Zhang, M. He, A.K. Azad, Z. Zhu, Terahertz dielectric properties and low-frequency phonon resonances of ZnO nanostructures. J. Phys. Chem. C 111(35), 13000–13006 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. L. Ma, Z. Xia, V. Atuchin, M. Molokeev, S. Auluck, A.H. Reshakj, Q. Liu, Engineering oxygen vacancies towards self-activated BaLuAlxZn4−xO7−(1–x)/2photoluminescent materials: an experimental and theoretical analysis. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 46(17), 31188–31194 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. C.X. Xu, X.W. Sun, X.H. Zhang, L. Ke, S.J. Chua, Photoluminescent properties of copper-doped zinc oxide nanowires. Nanotechnology 15(7), 856–861 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. N.H.H. Al-Hardan, A. Jalar, M.A. Abdul Hamid, L. Karkeng, R. Shamsudin, Structural and optical properties of a Bi-structured ZnO film prepared via electrodeposition. Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 8(5), 6767–6774 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  25. S. Mondal, S.R. Bhattacharyya, P. Mitra, Effect of Al doping on microstructure and optical band gap of ZnO thin film synthesized by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction. Pramana J. Phys. 80(2), 315–326 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. S. Dutta, B.N. Ganguly, Characterization of ZnO nanoparticles grown in presence of folic acid template. J. Nanobiotechnol. 10, 2–11 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. F.K. Shan, B.I. Kim, G.X. Liu, Z.F. Liu, J.Y. Sohn, W.J. Lee, B.C. Shin, Y.S. Yu, “Blueshift of near band edge emission in Mg doped ZnO thin films and aging. J. Appl. Phys. 95(9), 4772–4776 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Laser and Optronics (NILOP), Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan

    A. Shah, Uzma Aziz, Zahid Ali & A. Mahmood

  2. Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Islamabad, 45650, Pakistan

    Shakil Khan

  3. Department of Physics, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan

    M. Ahmad,  Rahmanuddin & Afzal Khan

Authors
  1. A. Shah
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rahmanuddin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shakil Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Uzma Aziz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Zahid Ali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Afzal Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. A. Mahmood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shakil Khan.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shah, A., Ahmad, M., Rahmanuddin et al. The role of Al doping on ZnO nanowire evolution and optical band gap tuning. Appl. Phys. A 125, 713 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-019-3005-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-019-3005-y

Search

Navigation