Structural, microstructural and optical properties of perovskite CCNbxTi1−x O (x = 0.02) thin film explored for photovoltaic applications

Abstract

CCNbxTi1−xO(CCTO-Nb) thin film was prepared by modified sol-gel route owing to its obvious benefit over traditional sol-gel process. The prepared gel was used for preparing film by doctor’s blade technique. The material was observed to be crystallized in perovskite phase in space group no. Im3. The rietveld refinement confirms its phase and the morphological study reveal the formation of transformation of microstructure from grain to bead to rod like structure and then to fibrous form. From mapping it is seen that the grains are uniformly distributed. Mean surface roughness and RMS surface roughness were estimated from atomic force microscopy (AFM) study. The different optical properties like, band gap, optical conductivity, interband transition strength, oscillation energy etc. are estimated in this study. This shall throw an insight to the applicability of the material in photovoltaic applications.