Photoluminescence analysis of energy level on Li-doped ZnO nanowires grown by a hydrothermal method

The optical and structural properties of Li-doped ZnO nanowires grown by a hydrothermal method are reported herein. The low-temperature and temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra clearly exhibited emission peaks that confirmed the presence of a lithium impurity as an acceptor dopant. Particularly, the acceptor energy level of the Li dopant was estimated to be 121 meV from the PL spectra. This value was also indicated from an Arrhenius plot of the integrated PL intensity of the A°X emission as a function of temperature. These results are in agreement with theoretical and experimental results of previously considered p-type dopants reported in other studies.