Abstract
The effects of CuO on the optical and dielectric properties of SnO2 thin film were studied to achieve improved light photon absorption and conversion. The films were deposited using airblast chemical spray pyrolysis. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometric analysis using the Windows SIMNRA software gave the compositions of as-deposited and annealed films and their thicknesses. The optical and dielectric parameters were evaluated from the transmittance data obtained from UV – Visible spectrophotometer. The optical band gap of as-deposited SnO2-CuO film was evaluated to be 3.4 eV. The value of Urbach tail width of the as-deposited mixed oxide is higher (296 meV) compared to that of the annealed (252 meV) indicating the presence of more disordered states in the as-deposited film. The analysis also showed that the presence of CuO in the matrix of SnO2 led to a decrease in optical bandgap, refractive index, and by extension dielectric constants of SnO2. Our investigation led to the conclusion that the addition of CuO into SnO2 increased its electromagnetic photon absorption and also delay its speed thereby enhancing photon interaction with free charge carriers in the mixed oxide film. We opined that the mixed oxide will perform better in photocatalysis, photodegradation of pollutants and other lightharvesting applications since the CuO inclusion has extended its absorption edge towards the visible light range.
Highlights
IntroductionTwo of the prominent challenges of this generation are the quest for clean and sustainable energy and the need to reduce environmental pollutions and the effects of climate change
While this will reduce our dependence on fossil sources which is good, the need for efficient detection and safe photodegradation of pollutants is fundamental to solving these problems
The rapid change of n and R in the first region could be attributed to the electronic band to band transition (Fasasi et al, 2018) as a result of the high photon energy of the UV light while the slow rate of variation in the second region could as well be ascribed to the lower photon energies of the far UV and the visible light
Summary
Two of the prominent challenges of this generation are the quest for clean and sustainable energy and the need to reduce environmental pollutions and the effects of climate change. The best approaches to solving these problems have been the need to improve our efficiency in tapping renewable energy sources most importantly solar energy. While this will reduce our dependence on fossil sources which is good, the need for efficient detection and safe photodegradation of pollutants is fundamental to solving these problems. These approaches require materials that could harvest the bulk of electromagnetic photons from the sun. One of such materials that have found wide applications in solar energy conversion, photodegradation of pollutants, gas sensing and Corresponding Author: Animasahun, L.O.
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