Influence of manganese rate on structural, optical and electrochemical properties of CeO2 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis: Supercapacitor applications

Abstract

The present work aimed to investigate the electrochemical properties of ITO substrates in propylene carbonate (PC) with 0.5 mol/L lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) medium in the presence of elaborated thin films of cerium dioxide pure and doped with manganese at varying percentages. Ce1–xMnxO2 (x = 0 wt%, 2 wt%, 4 wt% and 6 wt%) were successfully deposited by the spray pyrolysis (SP) technique on the glass substrate and ITO at 450 °C. The effects of manganese (Mn) doped thin films Ce1–xMnxO2 were studied and investigated by using different analyses namely X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectroscopy method, UV–Vis spectrophotometer technique, atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis and electrochemical properties. XRD data obtained present a polycrystalline with a face-centred cubic structure of fluorite type. Raman results of undoped and Mn doped thin films show two peaks at 465 and 600 cm−1, due to the formation of extrinsic oxygen vacancies by the incorporation of Mn into Ce1–xMnxO2 matrix. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) data show the presence of Ce, O, and Mn elements in the elaborated films. The AFM results reveal that the surface roughness decreases with increasing Mn rate. Further, band gap energy of thin films decreases with increasing in Mn rate due to the formation of defect state between valence and conduction band. The storage capacity of the elaborated Ce1–xMnxO2/ITO/PC + LiClO4 electrode reaches a maximum of 1.997 mF in the presence of 6 wt% of Mn.