Structural, optical and electrical characterization of Mn3O4 thin films via Au composite

Abstract

Metal oxides have been gained great interest and investigated by scientist for many years because they can be employed easily and cost effectively for technological applications such as sensors, diodes and solar cells. The metal oxides should be studied to increase their efficiency for technological applications. For that aim, the bare Mn3O4 and Mn3O4/Au composite thin films were synthesized by spray pyrolysis technique and, they were characterized via x-ray diffractometer (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, SEM, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and four point probe technique. XRD results show that the Mn3O4 thin film has amorphous structure but, the Mn3O4/Au composite thin film has crystalline structure in nature. Raman spectroscopy results highlight that the Mn3O4/Au thin film exhibit Mn–O bonding with Au peaks and better crystalline structure while the Mn3O4 thin film has only Mn–O bonding. According to UV–vis spectrometer results, both band gap energy and transmittance values of the Mn3O4 thin film decreased by adding Au to the structure. SEM images reveal that adding Au to the Mn3O4 structure heal its morphological properties. The EDS results confirm that bare the Mn3O4 and Mn3O4/Au composite thin films were obtained successfully. The Mn3O4/Au composite thin film has lower sheet resistance than bare ones. The Mn3O4/Au thin film can be used for supercapacitor and sensor applications.