Synthesis, characterization and UV photodetector application of Sb-doped ZnO nanowires

Abstract Sb-doped ZnO nanowires with hexagonal wurtzite structures have been synthesized via chemical vapor deposition method, and the main charge state of Sb dopants is Sb5+. The photoluminescence spectra demonstrate the existence of shallow acceptors, SbZn-2VZn complexes in all probability. On the other hand, Sb doping caused more native and impurity donors in Sb-doped ZnO nanowires. Then, field effect transistors of single Sb-doped ZnO nanowire were fabricated and the transport properties shows n-type conductivity. The competition between shallow acceptors and donors, and the influence of Sb valency need to be investigated further to obtain stable Sb-doped p-type ZnO. At last, we have shown the potential application of Sb-doped ZnO nanowires for nanoscale UV photodetector.