Improving the solubility of Mn and suppressing the oxygen vacancy density in Zn(0.98)Mn(0.02)O nanocrystals via octylamine treatment.

Zn(0.98)Mn(0.02)O nanocrystals were synthesized by the wet chemical route and were treated with different content of octylamine. The environment around Mn and the defect type and concentration were characterized by photoluminescence, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption fine structure. It is found that N codoping effectively enhances the solubility of Mn substituting Zn via reducing donor binding energy of impurity by the orbital hybridization between the N-acceptor and Mn-donor. On the other hand, the O atoms released from MnO(6) and the N ions from octylamine occupy the site of oxygen vacancies and result in reduction of the concentration of oxygen vacancies in Zn(0.98)Mn(0.02)O nanocrystals.