Evidence for the carbon–nitrogen complex in ZnO nanostructures with very high nitrogen doping

Abstract

This work presents positive experimental evidence for the formation of a carbon–nitrogen complex in ZnO, which was theoretically predicted previously. A very high nitrogen content up to ∼8 at% can be doped into ZnO nanostructures via the formation of a carbon–nitrogen complex, which in turn suppresses the formation of a nitrogen acceptor.