Magneto-Transport and Enhanced Spin-Polarized Photo Response in Solution-Processed Vertically Aligned Zn0.9Ni0.1O Nanowires

In this study, we grew pristine and Ni-doped vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowires (NWs) on a glass substrate. Both the doped and pristine NWs displayed dominant 002 peaks, confirming their vertical alignment. The Ni-doped NWs exhibited a leftward shift compared to the pristine NWs. TEM measurements confirmed the high crystallinity of individual NWs, with a d-spacing of ~0.267 nm along the c-axis. Ni-doped NWs had a higher density, indicating increased nucleation sites due to nickel doping. Doped NW films on glass showed enhanced absorbance in the visible region, suggesting the creation of sub-gap defect levels from nickel doping. Magnetization vs. magnetic field measurements revealed a small hysteresis loop, indicative of soft ferromagnetic behavior. Current transient plots demonstrated an increase in current with an applied magnetic field. Two-terminal devices exhibited a photo response that intensified with magnetic field application. This increase was attributed to parallel grain alignment, resulting in enhanced carrier concentration and photo response. In the dark, transport properties displayed negative magnetoresistance behavior. This magneto-transport effect and enhanced photo response (under an LED at ~395 nm) were attributed to giant magnetoresistance (GMR) in the aligned NWs. The observed behavior arose from reduced carrier scattering, improved transport properties, and parallel spin alignment in the magnetic field.