Influence of Bi3+ doping on microstructure and photoelectric properties of ZnO thin film

Bismuth (Bi) doped ZnO (BZO) thin films were successfully synthesized by sol-gel spin-coating technique. The effects of the concentration and photoelectric properties of the films were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) techniques, photoluminescence (PL) studies. The results showed that the successful doping of Bi3+ into ZnO lattice could produce more photo-generated carriers. The grain size of the film was decreased with the increasing of doping ratio. The photocurrent of 1% Bi3+ doped BZO thin film is 25% higher than that of pure ZnO thin film.