Structural, morphological and optical properties of nano structured cobalt doped ZnO thin films

Abstract

Cobalt (Co) doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films are prepared on a glass substrate by sol-gel dip coating process with varying Co concentration changing from 0 to 2 at.%. X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and UV–Visible Spectroscopy (UV–Vis) are employed for evaluate the formulated thin films. The XRD peaks of a prepared nanostructured Cobalt doped ZnO (ZnO:Co) films exhibit relative intensity peak of (0 0 2) direction which is predominant for all prepared films. All the films exhibits crystalline behaviour and hexagonal wurtzite structure. The EDX image confirms the presence of Zinc, Oxide and Cobalt in the prepared films and it is free from other impurities. The FESEM image reveals that the shape of the grains is spherical in nature and 2 at.% Co doped ZnO thin films exhibit least grain size of around 53 nm. The doped ZnO films exhibits the optical transmittance of greater than 70% and it is used as a transparent electrode in flat panel displays.