A comprehensive correlated analysis of Ra-Doped (ZnO₂, ZnO) for optoelectronic applications: a first-principle study

Zinc oxide (ZnO) exhibits bulk-like behavior and is modified by radium doping to attain favorable electronic properties. The elastic and mechanical response of ZnO₂ is much more favorable than ZnO material. The change in thermal expansion, Debye temperature, free energy, entropy, and specific heat leads it to be a good candidate for thermodynamic applications at low and high temperatures. Optical properties like dielectric function, absorption, refraction, reflection, and refractive index obtained after suitable doping transform the material as optically active. ZnO₂ has low reflectivity and zero absorption below the electronic band gap as compared to ZnO in a wider spectral range. Our analyses on doped ZnO₂ and ZnO make us confident for a wide range of applications in optoelectronic and anti-bacterial treatment in biomedical devices. Especially due to high flexibility and high light transmission, ZnO₂ is an excellent applicant for transparent electrodes.

Density functional theory has been employed in consistency with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) with PBEsol to analyze the structural, electronic, elastic, mechanical, thermodynamic, and optical response of pure and Ra-doped (ZnO₂ and ZnO) materials.