We have demonstrated the NiO/ZnO based rectifying diode for LED application for substituting GaN for optoelectronics applications. We have systematically studied the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of NiO based Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor (MIS) devices under forward and reverse bias for its use in LED applications. The results obtained show that the current increases exponentially with the voltage after a critical turn-on-voltage. The mechanism of carrier transport responsible for the rectifying behavior of the MIS structure as well as the light emission is discussed in relation to the experimental results. MRS Advances © 2016 Materials Research Society.