Enhancement in conductivity through Ga, Al dual doping of ZnO nanofibers

Abstract

In this study, electrical conductivity of Al doped ZnO nanofiber was enhanced by using Ga co-doping over the maximum conductivity achievable with only Al dopants of 2 at.% in ZnO. Al and Ga have different atomic sizes that results in further doping with Ga up to 1 at.%. Al, Ga co-doped ZnO nanofiber was fabricated by using electrospinning technique and structural analysis was investigated by X-ray diffraction. X-ray analysis indicates a change in lattice parameter(a-axis) of doped ZnO from 3.2497 angstrom to 3.2483 angstrom with added 1 at.% Al and from 3.2497 angstrom to 3.2488 angstrom with co-doping of 1 at.% Ga on top of the 2 at.% of Al doped ZnO. Therefore, Ga was incorporated into Al doped ZnO nanofiber without significant lattice parameter and grain size reduction to result in the enhanced conductivity up to a maximum value of 9.57 x 10(-3) S/cm.