ZnO Doping Effects on GaN/ZnO Solid Solution Band Structure and Visible Light Photocatalysis

This article investigates the effect of different concentrations of ZnO doping on the band structure of GaN/ZnO solid solution. By calculating the band structures of 350 GaN/ZnO solid solution structures and measuring the corresponding band gap sizes, it was found that with an increase in ZnO content, the band gap of the solid solution structure first rapidly decreases, stabilizes at around 0.05 eV, and slightly increases to 0.2 eV at higher ZnO content. The decrease in band gap is mainly attributed to the increase of Zn-N bonds. By increasing the ZnO content, the solid solution can achieve continuous band gap control. Band structure and density of states analysis show that the repulsion between N 2p and Zn 3d orbitals leads to the decrease in band gap. The increase in ZnO concentration significantly enhances the visible light response of the GaN/ZnO solid solution and results in a certain degree of redshift in the absorption peak of the visible light region. The GaN/ZnO solid solution exhibits significantly improved visible light photocatalytic performance.