Graphene and its Effect on the Structural and Optical Properties of TiO2 Nano Thin Films Prepared by PLD Technique

Abstract

In this study, thin films were prepared from pure titanium dioxide doped with graphene (1, 3, 5, 7%) wt using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the prepared films were polycrystalline with a quaternary structure. It is noted that there are diffraction peaks corresponding to the levels (101, 004, 200, 211), and in the preferential direction (101), we notice that the intensity of the peak (101) decreases with increasing doping with the appearance of a new peak when doping at rates (5, 7%)and angle (26.5 ) This peak represents graphene oxide, and that the grain size decreased with increasing doping with graphene, where the grain size ranged between (20-40) nm. EDX analysis also shows that the results of the ratios were close to the required ratios, The results showed in the scanning electron microscope that the increase in the percentage of doping leads to the crystallization and agglomeration of graphene oxide and its rise over the Titanium dioxide (TiO2) until the surface reaches the state of collapse. The optical properties revealed an increase in the value of the energy gap by increasing the doping with graphene oxide, as it ranged between (3.15-3.7) eV.