Sn doping effects on the structural, microstructural, Seebeck coefficient, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO thin films
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Successful ZnO, SnxZn1-xO [x = 0.01 and 0.03] films were synthesized by pyrolysis on glass substrates at Ts =
450 ◦C for 1 h. Sn doping effect on structural, microstructural, Seebeck coefficient and optical characterizations
were performed. It found that all films crystallize in the hexagonal würtzite structure. The success of the 1 at.%
Sn doping is confirmed by the SEM images which show that the microstructure of the 1 at.% Sn doped ZnO is
rather similar to that of the undoped ZnO film and shows spherical grains, by further increasing the Sn content (3
at.%), the films show a small spherical grains. Through FTIR analysis, distinct characteristic absorption peak at
449 cm− 1 for the Zn–O stretching mode with some changes in intensities. ZnO, ZnO:Sn films transmit decrease
from 87 to 66% with doping content, while the bandgap energy not affected with doping. The Seebeck coefficient
decreases from |188| to |110|μV/K, while the carrier concentration increases from 3.37 × 1018 and 1.00 ×
1019cm− 3 with doping content. The photocatalytic activity of Zn1-xSnxO investigated by testing the degradation
of methylene blue (MB)