It is challenging to achieve p-type doping of zinc oxides (ZnO), which are of interest as transparent conductors in optoelectronics. A ZnO-related ternary compound, SrZnO, was investigated as a potential host for p-type conductivity. First-principles investigations were used to select from a range of candidate dopants the substitution of Li for Zn as a stable, potentially p-type, doping mechanism in SrZnO. Subsequently, single-phase bulk samples of a new p-type-doped oxide, SrZnLi O (0 < x < 0.06), were prepared. The structural, compositional, and physical properties of both the parent SrZnO and SrZnLi O were experimentally verified. The band gap of SrZnO was calculated using HSE06 at 3.80 eV and experimentally measured at 4.27 eV, which confirmed the optical transparency of the material. Powder X-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma analysis were combined to show that single-phase ceramic samples can be accessed in the compositional range x < 0.06. A positive Seebeck coefficient of 353(4) μV K for SrZnLi O, where x = 0.021, confirmed that the compound is a p-type conductor, which is consistent with the p dependence of the electrical conductivity observed in all SrZnLi O samples. The conductivity of SrZnLi O is up to 15 times greater than that of undoped SrZnO (for x = 0.028 σ = 2.53 μS cm at 600 °C and 1 atm of O).

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