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This research work focuses on the influence of Neodymium (Nd) doping (0–10 at.%) on the structural, optical, electrical, and photo-response properties of Zinc Oxide thin films deposited on glass substrates by cost-effective spray pyrolysis technique. For all the deposited films, the X-ray diffraction peaks matched the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO with the maximum intensity along the (1 0 1) plane. Using XRD data, the crystallite size, dislocation density, and micro-strain of the films were estimated. Compared to other films, Zn0.96Nd0.04O film exhibited higher crystallinity ~ 18 nm. At higher doping concentrations, a fibrous-granular mixed structure was observed. Above 80 percentage of transparency in the visible region and bandgap of 3.42 eV was observed for the Zn0.96Nd0.04O film. The decrease in Urbach energy with increase in the doping concentration indicated the improvement in crystallinity. The peaks related to band edge emission, zinc, and oxygen-related defects were observed in the photoluminescence analysis also increased band edge emission and lesser defects were observed in the Zn0.96Nd0.04O film. The highest charge carrier concentration ~ 1.7 × 1017 cm−3 and mobility ~ 62.8 cm2/Vs were noticed in of Zn0.96Nd0.04O film. When exposed to UV light, Zn0.96Nd0.04O film exhibited the maximum photocurrent ~ 10−4 A. Hence the Zn0.96Nd0.04O film can be used as a UV photodetector. Graphical Abstract

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