Study of structural, optical and electrical properties of Nickel doped ZnO (Ni-ZnO) nanorods grown by chemical bath deposition

To investigate the effect of Nickel on ZnO thin films, doped ZnO (Ni-ZnO) thin films were synthesized using chemical bath deposition on seed layers which were first grown using the conventional spray pyrolysis method. Structural, optical and electrical properties were studied at different doping levels of Ni (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 %). All samples exhibited a highly defined (002) peak indicating a strong hexagonal crystal structure orientation. The samples showed a red shift at E2L and E2H Raman modes indicative of structural alterations. The undoped, 2 % and 4 % Ni doping levels showed lower mean roughness values compared to the 6 % and 8 % Ni doping. The Introduction of Ni into the ZnO structure appears to reduce the grain size from 167 nm to the lowest 79 nm at 2 % Ni concentration. Optical and electrical properties showed that the introduction of Ni as a dopant led to improved transmittance of up 70 % within the visible range and reduced resistivity from 3.590*10-3 (omega cm) at undoped ZnO to 0.616*10-3 (omega cm) 2 % Ni doped ZnO concentration.