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A facile sol–gel spin-coating fabrication of Ni@WO3 thin films and highly rectifying p-Si/n-Ni@WO3 heterojunction for optoelectronic applications

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Abstract

The WO3 thin films and p-Si/n-Ni@WO3 junction diodes are prepared with different wt% of Ni. The XRD profiles confirm that the monoclinic crystal system with a preferential orientation of (0 2 0) plane, in which their crystallite size is reduced from 28 to 14 nm with the rise of Ni content in WO3. From SEM images, the randomly arranged plate-like grain structure was observed for grown films and grain size reduces with an increase in Ni dopant concentration. The expected elements of Ni, W, and O are confirmed by the EDX spectrum and their ratio of composition was obtained. The UV–Vis-NIR spectra reveal that the 4 wt% of Ni@WO3 film exhibits a higher transmittance (~ 80%) with a low bandgap (Eg = 2.84 eV) value. The d.c. electrical conductivity increased with an increase in temperature for each Ni-doped WO3 films. The device ideality factor (n) and barrier height (ΦB) values were found to be decreased with a rise in Ni doping concentration. The better performance of the fabricated diode is observed p-Si/n-4 wt% of Ni@WO3 heterojunction diode with n = 1.820 and ΦB = 0.759 eV values. The obtained results suggest that the p-Si/n-Ni@WO3 diode is more suitable for optoelectronic device applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India, for the major research project (EMR/2016/007874). Author M. Shkir from KKU would like to express his gratitude to Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through Research Groups Program under Grant No. R.G.P 2/95/41.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Vivekanandha College of Arts and Sciences for Women, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, 673205, India

    M. Raja

  2. Department of Physics, Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641 020, India

    J. Chandrasekaran & R. Marnadu

  3. Institute of Theoretical and Applied Research, Duy Tan University, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam

    Tien Dai Nguyen

  4. Faculty of Natural Sciences, Duy Tan University, Da Nang, 550000, Vietnam

    Tien Dai Nguyen

  5. Advanced Functional Materials & Optoelectronics Laboratory, Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Mohd. Shkir

  6. Department of Electronics, CMS College of Science and Commerce, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641049, India

    S. Karthik Kannan

  7. Department of Physics, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Erode, Tamil Nadu, 638401, India

    M. Balaji

  8. Department of Physics, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641 042, India

    R. Ganesh

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Raja, M., Chandrasekaran, J., Nguyen, T.D. et al. A facile sol–gel spin-coating fabrication of Ni@WO3 thin films and highly rectifying p-Si/n-Ni@WO3 heterojunction for optoelectronic applications. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 1582–1592 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04927-x

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