60 MeV Si ion beam irradiation induced modifications in the structural and optical properties of Li doped NiO thin films

Abstract

Li doped NiO films grown on FTO substrates through spin coating technique were irradiated using 60 MeV Si ions. The films were investigated via several approaches including grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, micro-Raman and UV–visible spectroscopy. The crystalline nature of films declines with the initial face-centered cubic structure for 1x1014 ions cm−2 owing to the energy loss of Si ions in a Li doped NiO (Li:NiO) lattice during the generation of defects. The crystallite size of samples was evaluated using Scherrer’s equation. The vibrational modes were investigated via micro-Raman analysis. AFM topography was recorded for pristine and Si ion irradiated films. The ion fluence of Si ion in the used energy range lowers the transmittance Li:NiO films as compared to the pristine.