Effect of Al doping concentration on the structural, optical, morphological and electrical properties of V2O5 nanostructures

Abstract

Study on the optoelectronic characteristics of a cation-substituted nanostructure is a specific area of recent interest for a wide range of photonic applications. In the present work, Al_xV₂O₅ (where x = 0, 5, 10 and 15%) nanoparticles were synthesized by a wet chemical-calcination process. X-ray diffraction study revealed the orthorhombic phase of 600 °C heat-treated pure and Al³⁺ substituted samples. The shifting of the XRD lines with the substitution of V₂O₅ suggests that Al³⁺ was successfully introduced into the V₂O₅ host lattice. The SEM and TEM images show that the pure and Al³⁺ doped V₂O₅ hierarchical architectures are formed of one-dimensional nanorods. Photoluminescence spectra demonstrated the increment in deformities revealed by the immensely enhanced green emission. DC conductivity studies were performed in the temperature range 30–130 °C and it was found that the activation energy (E_a) is higher for Al_xV₂O₅ than for the undoped sample. The inherent current (I)–voltage (V) characteristics of pure V₂O₅ and Al_xV₂O₅ junction diodes showed a nonlinear diode-like behavior. The transient photocurrent under illumination is higher than the dark current, indicating that the fabricated diodes behave as a photodiode.