Oxygen adsorption process on ZnO single crystal

The adsorption of oxygen on ZnO was monitored by measuring the capacitance of two contacting crystals which have depletion layers originated from the interaction between oxygen and ZnO at 298 K-473 K. An admission of oxygen to the sample induced an irreversible increase in the depth and the amount of adsorbed oxygen was less than 0.001 monolayer in the experimental condition. The relation between pressure of oxygen and variation of the depth was tested from the view point of Langmuir or Freundlich isotherm: Using Hall effect measurement and kinetic experiment, a model equation on the adsorption process was proposed. From the results, it was suggested that oxygen adsorption depended on the rate of electron transfer from ZnO to oxygen while the amount of adsorbed oxygen was kinetically restricted by the height of surface potential barrier.