Orbital hybridization-induced band offset phenomena in Ni_xCd_1-xO thin films

Herein, we present the cationic impurity-assisted band offset phenomena in NixCd1-xO (x = 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1) thin films and further discuss them based on orbital hybridization modification. The compositional and structural studies revealed that the cationic substitution of Cd2+ by Ni2+ ions leads to a monotonic shift in the (220) diffraction peak, indicating the suppression of lattice distortion, while the evolution of local strain with an increase in Ni concentration is mainly associated with the mismatch in the electronegativity of the Cd2+ and Ni2+ ions. In fact, Fermi level pinning towards the conduction band minimum takes place with an increase in the Ni concentration at the cost of electronically compensated oxygen vacancies, resulting in the modification of the distribution of carrier concentration, which eventually affects the band edge effective mass of the conduction band electrons and further endorses band gap renormalization. Besides, the appearance of a longitudinal optical (LO) mode at 477 cm-1, as manifested by Raman spectroscopy, also indicates the active involvement of electron-phonon scattering, whereas modification in the local coordination environment, particularly anti-crossing interaction in conjunction with the presence of satellite features and shake-up states with Ni doping, was confirmed by X-ray absorption near-edge and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies. These results manifest the gradual reduction of orbital hybridization upon the incorporation of Ni, leading to a decrement in the band edge effective electron mass. Finally, the molecular dynamics simulation reflected a 13% reduction in the lattice parameter for the NiO thin film compared to the undoped film, while the projected density of states calculation further supports the experimental observation of reduced orbital hybridization with an increase in Ni concentration.