Li-doped Ni0.4Mg0.6−yLiyO film prepared by sol–gel method

Abstract

Superior photoelectric thin film plays critical role in ultraviolet signal detection. In this paper, we display a simple and smooth sol–gel method to produce lithium doped Ni0.4Mg0.6−yLiyO film, and the X-ray diffraction pattern shows both the doped and undoped films inclined to crystal growth. The surface quality was investigated by scanning electron microscope, which reveals a close packed nanoparticle configuration with particle size about 10 nm. The optical bandgap of the films was found to decrease as the doping abundance increased, but no less than 4.1 eV even at the highest doping level. As a result, we obtained a crystalline solid solution composite film which possess wide bandgap and improved conductivity simultaneously, indicated a promising application toward deep UV photodetection, especially for solar-blind photon sensing.