Polyaniline/gallium doped ZnO heterostructure device via plasma enhanced polymerization technique: Preparation, characterization and electrical properties

The ZnO and gallium-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by simple chemical method and used for the fabrication of p-polyaniline/n-ZnO heterostructures devices in which polyaniline was deposited by plasma-enhanced polymerization. The increment in the crystallite sizes of gallium doped ZnO nanoparticles from ~21.85 nm to ~32.39 nm indicated the incorporation of gallium ion into the ZnO nanoparticles. The surface and structural studies investigated the participation of protonated N atom for the bond formation between polyaniline and gallium-ZnO through partial hydrogen bonding. Compared to a Pt/polyaniline/ZnO diode, the fabricated Pt/polyaniline/gallium-ZnO heterostructure diode exhibited good rectifying behavior with Current–Voltage characteristics of improved saturation current, low ideality factor, and a high barrier height might due to the efficient charge conduction via gallium ion at the junction of the polyaniline/gallium doped-ZnO interface.