Permanent photodoping of plasmonic gallium-ZnO nanocrystals

Nanoscale. 2020 Mar 28;12(12):6624-6629. doi: 10.1039/d0nr01005g. Epub 2020 Mar 12.

Abstract

Donor dopants in oxide semiconductors are compensated not only by valuable electrons but also by other point defects, leading to a decrease in electric conductivity and infrared absorption. We demonstrate that the electron compensation mechanism in Ga doped ZnO nanocrystals can be promoted by photodoping. Unexpectedly, the electrons from photodoping are stable in the open air for months.