Structural and Field Electron Emission Properties of Pure and Al-Doped ZnO Nanorods Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

The structural and field electeron emission properties of pure and Al doped ZnO nanorods synthesized on the Al substrates using sol-gel method has been studied. Al doping at different levels was achieved by adding Al2NO3 at 1, 3 and 5 Al at. % with respect to Zn in the synthesis solution. X-ray analysis shows that all the obtained ZnO nanorods can be indexed to the hexagonal ZnO wurtzite structure. Field electron emission measurement using the nanorods as cathode gave a trend of decreasing turn-on field values with increasing Al-doping levels, with values of 7.2 V/μm, 6.6 V/μm, 6.0 V/μm and 5.8V/μm for pure ZnO nanorods, 1, 3 and 5 at% Al-doped ZnO nanorods, respectively. The F-N plot has a linear relationship and the field enhancement factor for all samples has been obtained.