ZnO doping and properties

Zinc oxide is a wide-bandgap semiconductor whose electrical and optical behavior can be tuned by introducing small amounts of foreign atoms—a process called doping—making it a versatile material for applications ranging from ultraviolet photodetectors to transparent electrodes in solar cells. At the nanoscale, ZnO forms a striking variety of structures such as nanowires and nanorods, whose high surface-to-volume ratios amplify the effects of doping and open new possibilities in optoelectronics. One active area of investigation is whether doping ZnO with transition metals like manganese or cobalt can produce reliable room-temperature ferromagnetism, which would make it a candidate for spintronic devices that exploit electron spin rather than charge alone. Researchers are still working to distinguish intrinsic magnetic ordering from artifacts introduced during synthesis, and to understand precisely how dopant atoms alter the defect chemistry that governs both the conductivity and luminescent properties of ZnO.

Works

110,492

Total citations

2,476,730

Keywords

Zinc OxideNanostructuresSemiconductorsFerromagnetismNanowiresPhotodetectors