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Investigation of microstructure and optical characteristics of Ti-doped ZnO thin films as an effective solar collector in photovoltaic solar cell applications using digitally controlled spray pyrolysis

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Abstract

Renewable energy, especially solar energy is a viable solution to the lack of electricity. In recent times, it has become necessary to replace solar cells with organic and inorganic metal oxides with significant band gaps to enhance their properties. This study utilizes a designed digitally controlled spray pyrolysis technique at a steady temperature of 350 °C to deposit undoped ZnO and Ti-doped ZnO films on pre-heated ultrasonically cleaned soda lime glass substrates. The films exhibit a single-phase hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure, according to the X-ray diffractometer analysis. The UV–visible Spectrophotometry results demonstrate that Ti-doped ZnO exhibits high transparency in the range of 71–91% and a direct band gap ranging from 3.24 to 3.10 eV. The results indicate that at 6%, Ti-doped ZnO has the potential to be used as a buffer material and window layer in thin-film solar cells.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Nigeria

    Ayodele Nicholas Orelusi, Victor Adewale Owoeye, Joseph Babatunde Dada & Henry O. Boyo

  2. Department of Electrical/Electronics and Computer Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

    Ayodeji Olalekan Salau

  3. Department of Physics, Osun State University, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

    Saheed Adekunle Adewinbi

  4. Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India

    Ayodeji Olalekan Salau

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  1. Ayodele Nicholas Orelusi
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  2. Victor Adewale Owoeye
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Correspondence to Ayodeji Olalekan Salau.

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Orelusi, A.N., Owoeye, V.A., Dada, J.B. et al. Investigation of microstructure and optical characteristics of Ti-doped ZnO thin films as an effective solar collector in photovoltaic solar cell applications using digitally controlled spray pyrolysis. Journal of Materials Research 38, 4192–4200 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-023-01133-3

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