TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of low energy Ag+ ION implantation ON ZnO nanorods for enhanced visible light absorption- structural and optical analysis
AU - Lefatshe, Kebadiretse
AU - Muiva, Cosmas
AU - Madhuku, Morgan
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Botswana International University of Science and Technology through the Office of Research, Development and Innovation (research grant DVC/ RDI /161/R00017) for financial assistance in carrying out this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Nanostructured one-dimensional ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown on seeded borosilicate glass substrates through chemical bath deposition. The synthesised ZnO NRs were implanted with Ag + ions at low energy of 50 keV and varying fluences of 1 × 1015, 2 × 1015, 3 × 1015, 1 × 1016, and 3 × 1016 ions/cm2. The influence of injected Ag + ions was investigated on the structural and optical properties of ZnO NRs. A variation of X-ray diffraction (XRD) extracted and calculated microstructural parameters confirmed the presence of Ag+ ions on the grown ZnO NRs. XRD and Raman analysis revealed that the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO was maintained, even at elevated fluences of Ag+ ions. Peak shifting to higher angles and lattice expansion were observed and attributed to substitutional doping. A red shift was observed in the absorbance spectra of Ag+ implanted ZnO NRs, suggesting a possibility of modification of the electronic structure which was confirmed through a calculation of the optical band gap and the refractive index. The energy band gap of Ag+ ion implanted ZnO NRs decreased with increase in the Ag+ ion fluence, whereas an increase was found for the calculated refractive index. The ZnO NRs implanted with 3 × 1016 ions/cm2 depicted different behaviour for structural and optical analysis, indicating a possibility of saturation of point defects and formation of different type of defects at fluences above 1 × 1016 ions/cm2. Corroboration of the structural and optical parameters demonstrate that low energy Ag + ion implantation can provide an effective and efficient approach to modify the structural and optoelectronic properties of ZnO for visible light driven photocatalytic applications.
AB - Nanostructured one-dimensional ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown on seeded borosilicate glass substrates through chemical bath deposition. The synthesised ZnO NRs were implanted with Ag + ions at low energy of 50 keV and varying fluences of 1 × 1015, 2 × 1015, 3 × 1015, 1 × 1016, and 3 × 1016 ions/cm2. The influence of injected Ag + ions was investigated on the structural and optical properties of ZnO NRs. A variation of X-ray diffraction (XRD) extracted and calculated microstructural parameters confirmed the presence of Ag+ ions on the grown ZnO NRs. XRD and Raman analysis revealed that the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO was maintained, even at elevated fluences of Ag+ ions. Peak shifting to higher angles and lattice expansion were observed and attributed to substitutional doping. A red shift was observed in the absorbance spectra of Ag+ implanted ZnO NRs, suggesting a possibility of modification of the electronic structure which was confirmed through a calculation of the optical band gap and the refractive index. The energy band gap of Ag+ ion implanted ZnO NRs decreased with increase in the Ag+ ion fluence, whereas an increase was found for the calculated refractive index. The ZnO NRs implanted with 3 × 1016 ions/cm2 depicted different behaviour for structural and optical analysis, indicating a possibility of saturation of point defects and formation of different type of defects at fluences above 1 × 1016 ions/cm2. Corroboration of the structural and optical parameters demonstrate that low energy Ag + ion implantation can provide an effective and efficient approach to modify the structural and optoelectronic properties of ZnO for visible light driven photocatalytic applications.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.optmat.2021.111757
DO - 10.1016/j.optmat.2021.111757
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85120444663
SN - 0925-3467
VL - 122
JO - Optical Materials
JF - Optical Materials
M1 - 111757
ER -