Effects of Ambience on Thermal-Diffusion Type Ga-doping Process for ZnO Nanoparticles

Abstract

Various annealing atmospheres were employed during our unique thermal-diffusion type Ga-doping process to investigate the surface, structural, optical, and electrical properties of Ga-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle (NP) layers. ZnO NPs were synthesized using an arc-discharge-mediated gas evaporation method, followed by Ga-doping under open-air, N2, O2, wet, and dry air atmospheric conditions at 800 °C to obtain the low resistive spray-coated NP layers. The I–V results revealed that the Ga-doped ZnO NP layer successfully reduced the sheet resistance in the open air (8.0 × 102 Ω/sq) and wet air atmosphere (8.8 × 102 Ω/sq) compared with un-doped ZnO (4.6 × 106 Ω/sq). Humidity plays a key role in the successful improvement of sheet resistance during Ga-doping. X-ray diffraction patterns demonstrated hexagonal wurtzite structures with increased crystallite sizes of 103 nm and 88 nm after doping in open air and wet air atmospheres, respectively. The red-shift of UV intensity indicates successful Ga-doping, and the atmospheric effects were confirmed through the analysis of the defect spectrum. Improved electrical conductivity was also confirmed using the thin-film-transistor-based structure. The current controllability by applying the gate electric-field was also confirmed, indicating the possibility of transistor channel application using the obtained ZnO NP layers.

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, Modification, and Applications in Food and Agriculture

“…The most popular physical approach for transforming bulk materials into nanomaterials by condensation and evaporation was electrical arc discharge-mediated synthesis. Islam et al used an arc-discharge-mediated gas evaporation method to synthesized ZnO-NPs, the zinc rod was used as zinc source, dry air was used as oxygen source, and carbon rod was acted as cathode [61]. Thermal evaporation.…”

“…synthesized ZnO-NPs, the zinc rod was used as zinc source, dry air was used as ox source, and carbon rod was acted as cathode [61]. Thermal evaporation.…”

Electrochemical Sensing of Zinc Oxide and Peroxide Nanoparticles: Modification with Meso-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) Porphyrin

“…Modification by electropolymerization of pyrrole [69] produced a uniform coating that covered all the nanoparticles, thereby increasing the electrical contact area between ZnO/ZnO 2 nanoparti-cles and graphite. Selectivity was attained using sodium metabisulfite as a molecular probe that helped distinguish ZnO from ZnO 2 and Na-doped ZnO 2 nanoparticles [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87].…”