Electronic Properties of Nitrogen- and Boron-Doped Amorphous Carbon (a-C:N and a-C:B) Films from Palmyra Sugar

Abstract

Amorphous carbon (a-C) film is a unique material that attracts the attention of scientists to be investigated. Nitrogen- and boron- doped amorphous carbon (a-C:N and a-C:B) have been deposited on ITO glass substrates by using nanospray method. Palmyra sugar is heated at temperature 250o C for 2.5 hours to obtain a-C. Boric acid (H3BO3) and amonium hidroxide (NH4OH) are used as the sources of boron doping and nitrogen doping. a-C:N and a-C:B are made by the variations of mole ratio for doping and amorphous carbon, that are 1:15 and 1:20. Then, these samples are dissolved into mixed dymethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and aquades. The exfoliation process of samples has been done by applying ultrasonic cleaner for 2 hours and also centrifugated at 4000 rpm for 45 minutes. Electrical conductivity and band gap are measured by using four point probe and UV Vis. The results show that electrical conductivity increases but band gap decreases than pure a-C. Furthermore, the larger mole ratio of a:C-N and a-C:B also increases conductivity and decreases band gap, resulting between 5.5×10-1S/cm – 6.1×10-1 S/cm and 1.43 eV – 1.71 eV.