Enhancing the properties of ZnO nanorods by Ni doping via the hydrothermal method for photosensor applications

In the present work, Ni-doped ZnO nanorods with concentrations ranging from 0 to 5 % are synthesized using a cost-effective hydrothermal method for the application of photodetectors. The prepared nanoparticles are analyzed by several techniques to examine their structure, optical, magnetic, and photosensing properties. The Xray diffraction (XRD) study shows that the synthesized samples exhibits the hexagonal structure without any impurity with the P63mc space group. Surface morphology was performed using Scanning electron microscope (SEM) confirmes the formation of nanorods, and homogeneous nature of synthesized samples. Energy Dispersive X Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) spectrum confirms the presence of Zn, Ni, and O elements in the prepared samples. Optical studies revealed that the estimated bandgap values are around 3.20 eV, 3.16 eV, 3.15 eV 3%, and 3.18 eV for pure ZnO, ZnO:Ni(1%), ZnO:Ni(3%) and ZnO:Ni(5%) samples, respectively. The vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM) study indicates the that all the samples exhibit ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature and also significant changes in the M-H loop as the dopant concentration changes. The photosensing properties of 3 % Ni doped ZnO nanorods photodetector, showed enhanced Responsivity (R), Detectivity (D*), and External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) values of 1.87 x 10-2(AW- 1), 4.11 x 109 (Jones), and 43.23 %, respectively. Hence the 3 % Ni doped ZnO sample might be better for commercial photodetector applications.