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Variation in chemical bath pH and the corresponding precursor concentration for optimizing the optical, structural and morphological properties of ZnO thin films

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Abstract

In the present study, ZnO thin films were deposited by chemical bath deposition carried out by selective correlation of varying (i) pH values at fixed concentration and (ii) concentration of the precursors at fixed pH. The selective correlations were done by using the characterization tools like X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmittance, refractive index, dielectric constant, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and IV measurements. Transmittance was found to increase from 57 to 87% on varying the pH from basic side (10.8) to acidic side (pH 6.8) with a blue shift in band gap. The nature and morphology of the deposited films were found to be dependent on pH as well as concentration. Acidic pH 5.0 was found to be most suitable for deposition of highly transparent film with low absorption coefficient, refractive index and dielectric constant. On the other hand, nearly complete coverage of the substrate and high purity was observed in the ZnO thin films which was deposited by taking equal 100 mM concentration of Zn(NO3) and HMTA precursors at a fixed pH 5.0 as desired, sheet resistance was also found to increase on the acidic pH side which is useful in case of buffer layer solar cell application. These studies lay a foundation stone for understanding the optical and morphological parameters by selectively correlating the pH and concentration variation at the same time.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) vide Korea government (MSIP) Nos. 2016R1A6A1A03012877, 2018R1D1A1B07051095 and 2018R1D1A1B07050237. Authors from MM University, Mullana are also thankful to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, India for supporting the part of this research work (vide Project No. SR/FTP/PS-69/2008), dated 15/1/2010. One of the Authors, Ravi Kant Choubey is thankful to the Council of Science & Technology, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India for the financial support (Vide No. CST/4051).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nano Information Technology Academy, Dongguk University, Seoul, 100715, South Korea

    Sunil Kumar, H. C. Jeon & T. W. Kang

  2. Department of Physics, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, 133207, India

    Rajni Seth

  3. School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Maharaja Agrasen University, Baddi, Solan, 174 103, India

    Sanjay Panwar

  4. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dongguk University, 32 Dongguk-ro, Biomedical Campus, Ilsandong-gu, Siksa-dong, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 10326, South Korea

    Surendra K. Shinde

  5. Department of Chemistry, Sadguru Gadage Maharaj College, Karad, 415124, India

    D. P. Waghmode

  6. Research Institute of Biotechnology and Medical Converged Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 10326, South Korea

    Rijuta Ganesh Saratale

  7. Department of Applied Physics, Amity Institute of Applied Sciences (AIAS), Amity University, Noida Campus, Sector-125, Noida, U.P., 201 313, India

    Ravi Kant Choubey

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  1. Sunil Kumar
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Kumar, S., Jeon, H.C., Kang, T.W. et al. Variation in chemical bath pH and the corresponding precursor concentration for optimizing the optical, structural and morphological properties of ZnO thin films. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 17747–17758 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-02125-y

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