Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of Ga-doped ZnO nanorods by hydrothermal method

High-density single-crystalline Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) nanorods were grown on glass substrate by hydrothermal method. The morphological and structural characteristics of the GZO were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (and X-ray diffraction. Results showed that the peaks related to the wurtzite structure ZnO were the (100), (002), and (101) diffraction peaks. The (002) peak indicated that the nanorods were preferentially oriented in the c-axis direction. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy indicated that Ga atom entered into the ZnO lattice. Moreover, the optical properties of GZO were measured by photoluminescence spectroscopy. All GZO nanorod arrays showed two different emissions, namely, ultraviolet (UV) and green emissions. A meta–semiconductor–metal UV photodetector (PD) based on GZO nanorods was also fabricated. The photo-current and dark-current constant ratio of the fabricated PD was approximately 15.2 at applied bias of 1 V.