Tailoring the optical properties and the UV detection performance of sol-gel deposited ZnO nanostructured thin films via Cd and Na co-doping

• Published in: Optical materials 2022-04, Vol.126, p.112146, Article 112146
• Main Authors: Alshammari, Abdullah S., Khan, Ziaul Raza, Gandouzi, Mohamed, Mohamed, Mansour, Bouzidi, Mohamed, Shkir, Mohd, Alshammari, Hamed M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Band gap controlling; Co-doped ZnO nanostructured thin films; Opto-electronic devices; UV detector
• ISSN: 0925-3467; 1873-1252
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.112146

Cd and Na co-doped ZnO nanostructured thin films with different doping concentrations were prepared using a sol-gel spin coating technique on glass substrates. The effect of doping with Cd and 1, 2 and 3 wt % Na on the structural, morphological, optical and UV detection properties of the nanostructured ZnO thin films was investigated. The grown co-doped nanostructured thin films exhibit wurtzite structure with preferential growth along the (002) plane. The change in the doping concentration was found to have a considerable effect on the grain size of the prepared films as well as their morphology. A variation in the band gap of the co-doped nanostructured thin films was also observed with changing the doping concentration. The band gap was found to vary in the range from 3.27 to 3.24 eV with increasing Na concentrations. The UV detection performance of the co-doped ZnO nanostructured thin films based UV detector was also investigated and found to strongly depend on the dopants concentrations with an obvious correlation with the variation in the films band gap. The findings of the current study show that a good control of the optical properties and the UV detection performance of the ZnO nanostructured thin films can be achieved through co-doing with Cd and Na with increased potential for their uses in high performance opto-electronic devices. •High quality ZnO nanostructured thin films co-doped with Cd and Na were prepared using sol-gel method.•The effect of co-doping with Cd and Na on the optical properties and the UV-detection performance of the films is reported.•Cd and Na co-doping significantly improves the UV detection performance of ZnO films based devices.•Co-doping with Cd & Na could be an effective route to improve the performance of ZnO based opto-electronic applications.