Investigation of the Effect of (Nd, Al) Co-doping on the Microstructure and Electrical Conductivity of ZnO

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2022-04, Vol.51 (4), p.1505-1511
• Main Authors: Liu, Quan-Guo, Shi, Yu, Chen, Yong, Wang, Mao-Hua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electronics and Microelectronics; Instrumentation; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Original Research Article; Solid State Physics
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-021-09418-1

(Nd, Al) co-doped ZnO was prepared via a simple sol-gel method with 1% Al and different mole fractions of Nd (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2%). The microstructure, optical properties and electrical conductivity of (Nd, Al) co-doped ZnO were studied by x-Ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), photoluminescence (PL) and DC resistivity measurement. According to the XRD spectrum, the sample has a hexagonal wurtzite structure and no Nd phase. The addition of Nd inhibits the crystal growth along the c-axis and reduces the crystallite size from 24 nm to 16 nm. From the analysis of the UV-vis spectrum, it can be seen that the doping of Nd enhances the visible light absorption of the sample and reduces the band gap from 3.09 eV to 2.99 eV. The prepared samples have a negative resistance temperature coefficient (NTC). The addition of Nd hinders the electron conduction and increase the DC resistivity of samples at a certain temperature. According to the Arrhenius equation, the activation energy of (Nd, Al) co-doped ZnO increases from 0.21 eV to 0.27 eV with the addition of Nd.