Effect of substrate temperature on the photoelectrochemical responses of Ga and N co-doped ZnO films

Journal Article · Tue May 11 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Journal of Materials Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-010-4561-x· OSTI ID:1372618

Shet, Sudhakar; Ahn, Kwang-Soon; Wang, Heli; Nuggehalli, Ravindra; Yan, Yanfa; Turner, John; Al-Jassim, Mowafak

Ga–N co-doped ZnO thin films with reduced bandgaps were deposited on F-doped tin-oxide-coated glass by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures in mixed N2 and O2 gas ambient. We found that Ga–N co-doped ZnO films exhibited enhanced crystallinity when compared to undoped ZnO films grown under the same conditions. Furthermore, Ga–N co-doping ensured enhanced N-incorporation ZnO thin films as the substrate temperature is increased. As a result, Ga–N co-doped ZnO thin films exhibited much improved photoelectrochemical (PEC) response, compared to ZnO thin films. Our results therefore suggest that the passive co-doping approach could be a means to improve PEC response for bandgap-reduced wide-bandgap oxides through impurity incorporation.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1372618
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA--520-45946
• Journal Information: Journal of Materials Science, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Science Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 45; ISSN 0022-2461
• Publisher: Springer
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
solar cells
thin films