A facile and reproducible synthesis of non-polar ZnO homojunction with enlarged rectification rate and colorful light emission

Abstract

A novel fabrication of non-polar Sb-doped ZnO homojunction was realized via a facile and reproducible low-temperature aqueous solution deposition in the presence of Sb dopant dissolved in ethylene glycol (EG). The undoped non-polar ZnO films were introduced as the non-polar substrates for the non-polar growth of Sb-doped ZnO film as well as the SZO/ZnO homojunction. The parameters including the reaction time and dopant concentration for the synthesis of non-polar SZO/ZnO homojunction were identified. The existence and distribution of Sb dopant in SZO layer were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and elemental mapping analysis. The I–V measurement result indicated the p-type conduction of SZO layer and the synthesized p-SZO/n-ZnO homojunction with non-polar preferred orientations possessed both ultra-low turn-on voltage (1.5 V) and large rectification rate (>105). The excitation of orange-red light emissions from deep-level energy band gap demonstrated the (SbZn-xVZn) complex defect pattern. This novel non-polar SZO/ZnO homojunction could be an excellent candidate for the applications of one-dimensional ZnO nanomaterials in the electronic/photoelectronic field.