L-Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode

E. Indubala; M. Dhanasekar; V. Sudha; E. J. Padma Malar; P. Divya; Jositta Sherine; Revathy Rajagopal; S. Venkataprasad Bhat; S. Harinipriya

doi:10.1039/C7RA12385J

l-Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode†

E. Indubala,^ac M. Dhanasekar,^be V. Sudha,^c E. J. Padma Malar,^d P. Divya,^d Jositta Sherine,^e Revathy Rajagopal,^f S. Venkataprasad Bhat^be and S. Harinipriya

*^ac

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* Corresponding authors

^a Electrochemical Systems Lab, SRM Research Institute, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai – 603203, India
E-mail: harinipriya.s@res.srmuniv.ac.in

^b SRM Research Institute, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai – 603203, India

^c Department of Chemistry, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai – 603203, India

^d National Centre for Ultrafast Processes, University of Madras, Taramani Campus, Chennai – 600 113, India

^e Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai – 603203, India

^f Department of Chemistry, Stella Maris College, Chennai – 600086, India

Abstract

ZnO nanorods were capped with a simple amino acid, viz., L-alanine to increase the carrier concentration and improve the performance of ZnO/CuI heterojunction diodes. The effect of L-alanine capping on the morphology, structural, optical, electrochemical and electrical properties of ZnO nanorods had been studied in detail. The stable structure with two equally strong Zn–O coordinate bonds predicted by density functional theory was in agreement with the experimental results of FTIR spectroscopy. Due to the presence of electron-releasing (+I effect) moieties in L-Alanine, the carrier concentration of capped ZnO nanorods was two orders of magnitude higher and the ZnO/CuI heterojunction device showed more than a two-fold increase in the photovoltaic power conversion efficiency.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA12385J
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 13 Nov 2017
Accepted: 16 Jan 2018
First published: 31 Jan 2018
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2018,8, 5350-5361

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L-Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode

E. Indubala, M. Dhanasekar, V. Sudha, E. J. P. Malar, P. Divya, J. Sherine, R. Rajagopal, S. V. Bhat and S. Harinipriya, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 5350 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA12385J

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l-Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode†

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L-Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode

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