Chemisorption,photodesorption and conductivity measurements on ZnO surfaces

Experimental results of a mass-spectro metric analysis of photodesorption from ZnO single crystals at different temperatures are reported. They provide direct evidence that CO₂ is the only photodesorbed species from both the single crystal and powder samples studied. The CO₂ photodesorption occurs only when the incident photon energy exceeds the ZnO band gap energy. Excellent agreement between the illumination time dependence of the CO₂ photodesorption and surface conductivity data in both single crystals and powder samples strongly suggests a substrate dependent mechanism in which photodesorption occurs by the neutralization of chemisorbed CO₂^? “ion-molecules” by photogenerated holes. In addition, measurements of the chemisorption kinetics of oxygen on ZnO single crystal and powder surfaces are reported. The results are compared with CO₂ and CO chemisorptiun experiments to show that, of these gases, only oxygen chemisorbs from the gas phase. Auger analysis of oxygen saturated and photodesorbed surfaces of ZnO show a significant relation between the carbon content and the photo-desorptive and conductive activities of those surfaces. These observations indicate that impurity carbon atoms on ZnO surfaces can be oxidized by electron capture to produce chemisorbed CO₂^? “ion-molecules’ which will then readily photodesorb by bandgap radiation. This proposed process is discussed together with further supporting evidence.