Structural, morphological, optical and opto-thermal properties of Ni-doped ZnO thin films using spray pyrolysis chemical technique

Abstract

Nickel-doped zinc oxide thin films (ZnO : Ni) at different percentages were deposited on glass substrates using a chemical spray technique. The effect of Ni concentration on the structural, morphological, optical and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the ZnO : Ni thin films were investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that all films consist of single phase ZnO and was well crystallized in würtzite phase with the crystallites preferentially oriented towards the (002) direction parallel to the c-axis. The optical transmittance measurement was found to be higher than 90%, the optical band gap values of ZnO thin films decreased after doping from 3.29 to 3.21 eV. A noticeable change in optical constants was observed between undoped and Ni-doped ZnO. Room-temperature PL is observed for ZnO, and Ni-doped ZnO thin films.