Fabrication and electrical characterization of transparent NiO/ZnO p–n junction by the sol–gel spin coating method

Sol–gel spin technique was used to fabricate transparent p–n junction between NiO and ZnO semiconductors. Atomic force microscopy studies indicated that ZnO film had a fibrous structure, while NiO film showed very smooth surface morphology. The optical transmittance of these films was about 75 %. The optical band gaps of ZnO and NiO films were obtained to be 3.25 and 3.89 eV, respectively. The current–voltage characteristics of NiO/ZnO junction showed a good rectifying behavior. The junction parameters such as ideality factor and barrier height were calculated using thermionic emission model. The barrier height and ideality factor values of the diode were obtained to be 0.48 and 2.91 eV, respectively. The variation of photocurrent with wavelength indicates that this device had high efficiency in wavelength range of 450–475 nm.     

Deposition of silica thin films formed by sol–gel method

Deposition of silica thin films on silicon wafer was investigated by in situ mass measurements with a microbalance configured for dip coating. Mass change was recorded with respect to deposition time when the substrate was fully immersed in the silica sol. Mass gain during deposition was higher than predicted from monolayer coverage of silica nano particles. This implied that deposition was facilitated by gelling of the nanoparticles on the substrate. The rate of deposition was enhanced by increasing the particle concentration in the sol and by decreasing the particle size from 12 to 5 nm. Increasing the salt concentration of the silica sol at constant pH enhanced the deposition of the silica particles. Reducing the pH of the sol from 10 to 6 decreased the deposition rate due to aggregation of the primary silica particles.     

Photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of Ag-doped ZnO thin films prepared by a sol–gel dip-coating method

Silver-doped ZnO thin films with various loadings of Ag in the range of 0–10 mol% were prepared by the sol–gel dip-coating method. All prepared films show X-ray powder diffraction patterns that matched with ZnO in its würtzite structure. The grain size decreased as the Ag loading increased. The prepared films, under UV blacklight illumination, produced a photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, rhodamine B and reactive orange solutions. Furthermore, they inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli bacteria under UV blacklight irradiation and to a lesser extent in dark conditions. The photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of the prepared films increased with Ag loading, presumably because Ag enhanced the efficiency of generation of superoxide anion radicals (^•O₂ ⁻) and hydroxyl radicals (^•OH).     

Influence of the spin acceleration time on the properties of ZnO:Ga thin films deposited by sol–gel method

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - A detailed study of the structural, morphological, optical, and electrical properties of the spin-coated Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) films in which these...     

Structural and optical properties of Na doped ZnO nanocrystalline thin films synthesized using sol–gel spin coating technique

Sodium (Na) doped Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been deposited on a glass substrate by the sol–gel spin coating method. Effect of doping with various percentages of Na at a particular annealing temperature of 500 °C is studied. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-photoluminescence, Raman and Polarized Raman spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Na substitution in zinc oxide and the wurtzite structure of the lattice is retained. An enhancement of resonant Raman scattering processes as well as longitudinal optical phonon overtones up to the fifth order were observed in the micro Raman spectra. The similar values of depolarization ratios obtained from Polarized Raman studies recommend no change in the symmetry. Photoluminescence showed a strong emission peak in the near UV at 3.2 eV and negligible visible emission.     

Cathodoluminescence properties of Pr3+-doped perovskite-type transparent red luminescent thin films processed by a sol–gel method

Transparent, luminescent films of Pr³⁺-doped (Ca_0.6Sr_0.4)TiO₃ (CSTO) have been prepared for cathodo-excitation of pure red luminescence by a sol–gel method from a stabilized sol with Ca²⁺, Sr²⁺, Pr³⁺ ions and titanium-isopropoxide in acetic acid. The structure and surface morphology of the obtained films are characterized by X-ray diffraction and Atomic Force Microscopy, respectively. The photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence (CL) properties of the films are evaluated. The films exhibit a strong single line of ¹D₂ → ³H₄ red photoluminescence of Pr³⁺ ions doped, which increases almost linearly with the number of the dip-coated layers. It is also found that strong single red photoemission is observed and the CL intensity increases with increasing acceleration voltage. The results demonstrate that it is potential for application in field-emission display devices.     

High transparent thermal curable hybrid polycarbonate films prepared by the sol–gel method

Polycarbonate/epoxy/silica hybrid films were prepared by curing an epoxy reaction via in situ sol–gel process. The influence of the synthetic conditions, such as the ratio of different epoxy reagents and the contents of [2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyl]trimethoxysilane on the physical and optical properties of these hybrid films were investigated in details. The coefficient of thermal expansion, surface roughness, and light transmittance at a wavelength range from 250 to 800 nm were measured. These excellent overall performances make it a promising photonic packaging material.     

Effect of annealing temperature on the quality of Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by sol–gel method

The different thermal expansion coefficients and lattice mismatch between ZnO and Al may produce residual stress in Al-ZnO (AZO) thin films. Annealing processes can be applied to modulate this residual stress. In this study, three different rapid thermal annealing (RTA) temperatures (350, 450, and 600 °C) were applied to an AZO thin film, prepared using sol–gel method. The mechanical properties, optical properties, and structure of the AZO thin film were investigated experimentally. The results show that increasing the RTA temperature increased the Young’s modulus and hardness of the films. The grain size of the films also increased with increasing RTA temperature. However, the film thickness and shear stress component decreased with increasing RTA temperature. Both compressive and tensile stress decreased gradually with increasing film thickness after RTA treatment. It was demonstrated that the use of a relatively high RTA temperature can effectively relax the residual stress in AZO thin films.     

Synthesis and characterization of tellurium-doped CdO nanoparticles thin films by sol–gel method

In this work, tellurium (Te) doped CdO nanoparticles thin films with different Te concentrations (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 %) were prepared by sol–gel method. The effects of Te doping on the structural, morphological and optical properties of the CdO thin films were systematically studied. From X-ray diffraction spectra, it has seen that all of thin films were formed polycrystalline and cubic structure having (111), (200) and (311) orientations. The structure of CdO thin films with Te-dopant was formed the unstable CdTeO₃ monoclinic structure crystal plane ( $ {\bar{\text{1}}\text{22}} $ 1 ¯ 22 ), however, the intensity of this unstable peak of the crystalline phase decreased with the increase of Te-doping ratio. The strain in the structure is also studied by using Williamson-Hall method. From FE-SEM images, it has seen that particles have homogeneously distributed and well hold onto the substrate surface. Additionally, grain size increases from 27 to 121 nm with the increase of Te-doping ratio. Optical results indicate that 1 % Te-doped CdO thin film has the maximum transmittance of about 87 %, and the values of optical energy band gap increases from 2.50 to 2.64 eV with the increase of Te-doping ratio. These results make Te-doped CdO thin films an attractive candidate for thin film material applications.     

ZnO nanorods on ZnO seed layer derived by sol–gel process

Well-aligned ZnO nanorods are obtained by a liquid phase epitaxial growth on the indium-doped tin oxide glass deposited with a ZnO thin film as the seed layer, which is prepared by combining a sol–gel process and a spin coating technique. The effects of water content in the sol and heat treatment temperature on the properties of the ZnO thin film are investigated. Relationship among the seed layer, the growing time, the growing temperature, the concentration of Zn²⁺ in the solution, the anions in the solution and the resulting ZnO nanorods are discussed in detail. X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electronic microscopy are employed to characterize the structural and morphological properties of the resulting ZnO nanorods. Results indicate that the ZnO nanorods with a preferred orientation show a single crystal with a wurtzite structure in the direction of [0001], the diameter of the ZnO nanorods seems to depend on the size of the seed grain, while the length of the ZnO nanorods is determined by the growing time and the growing temperature.     

Synthesis and characterization of highly preferred orientation polycrystalline Co-doped ZnO thin films prepared by improved sol–gel method

Highly preferred orientation polycrystalline Zn_1?xCo_xO (x = 0, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09) thin films were prepared by improved sol–gel method on quartz glass substrates. The structural, optical and magnetic properties were investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that all the samples have the same structure with one highly oriented c-axis (002) peak. None of the samples showed any signal of impurity phases. The c-axis lattice constant increased linearly with the increase in Co doping content, indicating that the doping of Co ions into the host lattice did not change the wurtzite structure of ZnO. UV–Vis transmittance spectroscopy showed that the average optical transmittance of the films is about 90 % in visible wavelength range. The optical band gap (Eg) decreased with increasing Co content. Also, the results of vibration sample magnetization ascertained the ferromagnetic behavior of Co-doped ZnO, having a Curie temperature higher than room temperature.     

Modification of surface morphology and lattice order in nanocrystalline ZnO thin films prepared by spin-coating sol–gel method

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) with large surface/volume ratio and rich reactive groups are incorporated into Fe-based MOF aerogel to develop MOF(Fe)/HNTs...     

Preparation of nanostructured titania thin films by sol–gel technology

This study is concerned with the preparation of hydrolytically active heteroligand complex [Ti(OC₄H₉)_3.61(O₂C₅H₇)_0.39] from titanium butoxide and acetylacetone and with the gel formation kinetics in a solution of this complex upon hydrolysis and polycondensation. Single-layer and double-layer thin films of a solution of this precursor were coated on polished silicon substrates using the dip-coating method. The crystallization of nanostructured titania films during the heat treatment of these xerogel coatings was studied using various protocols; the anatase–rutile phase transition temperature was found to depend on the film thickness. The effects of the precursor solution viscosity on the film thickness and crystallite size were determined.