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Enhancement of the photoelectric properties of composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin films

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Abstract

Enhancement of photoelectric properties related to surface chemistry states of composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 has attracted extensive interest over the past few years owing to its unique internal structure. In this paper, the composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin films have been successfully fabricated via sol-gel method. Various characterizations such as X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photo electron spectroscopy are utilized to investigate the crystal phase, surface morphology, and chemical compositions of the composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin film. By measuring the photoluminescence spectrum, we investigate the band gap and the electron transition. It is found that PL result is closely related to the information of charge carrier trapping. Current-voltage characteristics indicate that the TiO2-SrTiO3 has better photoelectric performance than that of pure strontium titanate and rutile titanium dioxide. Additionally, the composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin film shows favorable photoelectric response, high sensitivity, and good stabilization. First-principle calculation based upon the density functional theory (DFT) is the first time to explicate the energy band and state density of the composite oxide of the TiO2-SrTiO3 with the appropriate model. This study deepens understanding of the photoelectric properties and electron structure of the new composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin film, which is expected for further applications in optoelectronic devices.

Graphical abstract

The composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin film device performs more better photoelectric activity than the pure SrTiO3 and TiO2 thin film devices. The short-circuit current (Isc) is 0.047 μA and the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is − 0.8 V.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11574057 and 51604087), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2021A1515012607), and the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province of China (Grant No. 2017A010104022).

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  1. School of Physics and Optoelectric Engineering, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Li, Xin-Gui Tang, Qiu-Xiang Liu, Yan-Ping Jiang & Wen-Hua Li

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  1. Jun Li
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  2. Xin-Gui Tang
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Correspondence to Xin-Gui Tang.

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Li, J., Tang, XG., Liu, QX. et al. Enhancement of the photoelectric properties of composite oxide TiO2-SrTiO3 thin films. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 5, 1557–1565 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-021-00237-w

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