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Influence of Oxygen Vacancies on Atomic Chemistry and Transparent Conductivity of Nb-Doped TiO2 Films

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Abstract

Nb-doped TiO2 (NTO) thin films were sputtered on glass substrate followed by a simple annealing process in air. The photoelectric cooperative optimization was discussed based on the structural, optical and electrical characteristics. The influence of oxygen flow during deposition on materials chemistry and performance was analyzed. Hall measurement showed a strong dependence of transparent conductivity on the oxygen flow. Oxygen vacancies are related to the phase transitions from the rutile to anatase TiO2 during annealing. The chemical states of Nb, Ti and O before and after annealing were discussed. The achievement of optimized transparent conductivity was resultant from the fine-tuning of the doped chemistry and special interplay of dopants and host lattice.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFB4001802-03) and Excellent Young Scholars of the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Overseas, 2022HWYQ-090). This work was also supported by the Scientific and Education Program of Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) (No. 2022PX047&2022GH010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Research Institute, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), 19 Keyuan Road, Jinan, 250014, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Angang Song, Di Zhu & Baofeng Zhao

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan Province, People’s Republic of China

    Angang Song, Guoqin Cao, Zhenya Fu, Shuaiqi Cao, Qingjie Wang & Junhua Hu

  3. State Center for International Cooperation On Designer Low-Carbon & Environmental Materials (CDLCEM), Zhengzhou University, 100 Kexue Avenue, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Angang Song, Guoqin Cao, Zhenya Fu, Shuaiqi Cao, Qingjie Wang & Junhua Hu

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  1. Angang Song
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Song, A., Cao, G., Zhu, D. et al. Influence of Oxygen Vacancies on Atomic Chemistry and Transparent Conductivity of Nb-Doped TiO2 Films. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 6885–6893 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-022-09917-9

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