Abstract
Thin films of cadmium doped zinc oxide rod like microstructure have been synthesized by a very simple sol-gel dip coating technique. Sols were prepared from hydrated zinc oxide precursor and 2-methoxyethanol solvent with monoethanolamine as a sol stabilizer. XRD pattern confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite structure of the deposited ZnO films. Surface morphologies of the films have been studied by a scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope, which confirmed that the films are composed of densely packed randomly oriented nano/submicron rods with diameter in the range 300–400 nm having various lengths. We proposed a possible growth mechanism for this rodlike structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic study was used to determine the binding energies and the Zn 2p3/2, Cd 3d5 and O 1s peaks in the XPS spectra were located at 1021.08 eV, 404.6 eV and 529.8 eV respectively, which confirmed the Cd doping in ZnO. Cadmium content in the film was estimated both from energy dispersive X-ray analysis and XPS measurement. Band gap energy determined from optical transmittance spectra systematically varied from 3.28 eV to 3.15 eV for 0% to 5.6% of Cd doping. Urbach parameter determined from the band tail of the transmittance spectra showed that it increased with doping percentage and this parameter for a fixed cadmium doping level decreased with increase of temperature.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Look DC (2001) Mater Sci Eng B 80:383
Lee C, Lim K, Song J (1996) Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells 43:37
Bahadur L, Hamdani M, Koenig JF, Chartier P (1986) Solar Energy Mater 14:107
Negami T, Hashimoto Y, Nishiwaki S (2001) Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells 67:331
Matsubara K, Fons P, Iwata K, Yamada A, Sakurai K, Tampo H, Niki S (2003) Thin Solid Films 431:369
Ohya Y, Ueda M, Takahashi Y (1996) Jpn J Appl Phys 35:4738
Natsume Y, Sakata H (2000) Thin Solid Films 372:30
Paul GK, Bandyopadhyay S, Sen SK (2002) Phys Status Solidi A 191:509
Look DC, Reynolds DC, Litton CW, Jones RL, Eason DB, Cantwell G (2002) Appl Phys Lett 81:1830
Wang X, Carey WP, Yee S (1995) Sensors Actuators B 28:63
Srivastava JK, Agrawal L, Bhattacharyya B (1989) J Electrochem Soc 11:3414
Wan Q, Li QH, Chen YJ, Wang TH, He XL, Gao XG, Li JP (2004) Appl Phys Lett 84:3085
Makino T, Segawa Y, Kawasaki M, Ohtomo A, Shiroki R, Tamura K, Yasuda T, Koinuma H (2001) Appl Phys Lett 78:1237
Gruber Th, Kirchner C, Kling R, Reuss F, Waag A, Bertram F, Forster D, Christen J, Schreck M (2003) Appl Phys Lett 83:3290
Wang FZ, Ye ZZ, Ma DW, Zhu LP, Zhuge F, He HP (2005) Appl Phys Lett 87:143101
Choi Y-S, Lee C-G, Cho SM (1996) Thin Solid Films 289:153
Maity R, Das S, Mitra MK, Chattopadhyay KK (2005) Physica E 25:605
Jing L, Xu Z, Sun X, Shang J, Cai W (2001) Appl Surface Sci 180:308
Gu ZB, Yuan CS, Lu MH, Wang Z, Wu D, Zhang ST, Zhu SN, Zhu YY, Chen YF (2005) J Appl Phys 98:053908
Bose DN, Hedge MS, Basu S, Mandal KC (1989) Semicond Sci Technol 4:866
Pankove JI (1971) Optical processes in semiconductors. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Chen NB, ZWu H, Qiu DJ, Xu TN, Chen J, Shen WZ (2004) J Phys: Condens Matter 16:2973
Srikant V, Clarke DR (1997) J Appl Phys 81:6357
Aghamalyan NR, Gambaryan IA, Goulanian E Kh, Hovsepyan RK, Kostanyan RB, Petrosyan SI, Vardanyan ES, Zerrouk AF (2003) Semicond Sci Technol 18:525
Ohyama M, Kozuka H, Yoko T (1997) Thin Solid Films 306:78
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maiti, U.N., Ghosh, P.K., Ahmed, S.F. et al. Structural, optical and photoelectron spectroscopic studies of nano/micro ZnO:Cd rods synthesized via sol-gel route. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 41, 87–92 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-006-0116-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-006-0116-7