Study of Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Nano-Structured Zinc doped V₂O₅ Thin Films

T. Akkila^1,* and I. Mansur Basha²

^1,*PG& Research Department of Physics, Govt. Arts College, Trichy, Tamilnadu, India.

²PG& Research Department of Physics, Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous), Trichy,Tamilnadu, India.

Thin films of zinc-doped vanadium pentoxide with different Zn doping levels (in steps of 0.1mM of Zn) were deposited on glass substrates by a home built spray pyrolysis system. The effect of Zn doping on the structural, morphological and optical characteristics were carried out. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed that prepared films were polycrystalline in nature, having an orthorhombic crystal structure. Annealing effect improved the crystallinity of the films. The crystallite size of the films was found to increase after annealing. From the FESEM image, the rod shape was observed in the annealed pristine V₂O₅ film. The band gap energies of as deposited and annealed pristine V₂O₅ film were 2.16eV and 2.18eV respectively. The band gap energy of as deposited films varied with Zn doping.

Keywords: Thin films, Zinc Doping, Spray pyrolysis, X-ray diffraction.

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