Effect of various synthesis protocols on doping profile of ZnO:Eu Nanowires

• Simple, cost effective, low temperature and environment friendly method to produce Eu doped ZnO NWs.
• A comparative study of XRD and morphology of Eu doped ZnO NWs on the basis of their synthesis methods is given.
• Optical property of Eu doped ZnO NWs varies with synthesis processes.

This paper emphasizes on developing protocols to improve the doping concentration in ZnO NWs. Eu doped ZnO Nanowires (ZnO:Eu NWs) were grown by the chemical bath deposition (CBD), ultra-sonication (US) and microwave (MW) assisted wet chemical methods. The effect of various synthesis methods on the doping profile along with the structural and morphological properties of ZnO:Eu NWs was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM and EDS. EDS results show that a maximum of 2.36 atomic percent Eu is doped via US assisted method, which was attributed to the violent vibrations of molecules set forth by ultrasonic waves, providing sufficient energy for doping. Photoconductivity (PC) properties have been investigated through an analysis of rise and decay curve of the photocurrent. Maximum gain (G) was obtained for MW assisted method, which shows conformal doping and better crystallinity of the ZnO NWs obtained by this method. The PC studies give an insight into the doping mechanism for ZnO. This study paves a way to the conformal doping of ZnO NWs, by modifying the existing methods.