Crystal structural, optical properties and mott-schottky plots of p-type Ca doped CuFeO2 nanoplates

• Ca doped 3R-CuFeO2 nanoplates were obtained through hydrothermal method at 100 °C.
• Ca 2+ was doped into CuFeO2 lattice and 3R-Cu1-2xCaxFeO2 solid solution was obtained.
• The calculated direct bandgap of (Ca doped) CuFeO2 nanoplates were about 3.20–3.40 eV.
• Ca doped CuFeO2 is a p-type semiconductor, the carrier density is around 1020 cm−3.

We first report a facile hydrothermal method to synthesize Ca doped 3R-CuFeO2 nanoplates with 100–400 × 15–40 nm2 at 100 °C for 24 h. The Ca dopants have a significant effect on the crystal structure of CuFeO2, as our investigation shows clearly that the Ca2+ ions were successfully doped into the CuFeO2 lattice and substituted Cu+ ion, resulting in the formation of Cu1-2xCaxFeO2 solid solution of a rhombohedral 3 R structure. Furthermore, the calculated direct bandgap energies of (Ca doped) CuFeO2 nanoplates were estimated to be 3.20–3.40 eV, and the optical bandgaps decreased with increasing concentration of Ca dopant. The mott-schottky anaylsis results indicated that (Ca doped) CuFeO2 nanoplates have a p-type semiconductor behavior, and the carrier density of these CuFeO2 based nanoplates around 1020 cm−3, which also decreased with increasing concentration of Ca dopant due to the Ca2+ ion replacement of a part of Cu+ ions.

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