Diffraction Plane Research Articles

Electrospun Nanofiber Mats with Embedded Zinc Oxysulfide for Photoreduction of Nitrobenzene to Aniline under Mild Condition.

In this work, electrospun nanofiber embedded with zinc oxysulfide (Zn(O,S)) has been demonstrated as an efficient and robust photocatalyst for hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline under solar light irradiation at mild conditions with methanol as the hole scavenger. The solid solution state of Zn(O,S) in electrospun nanofiber was successfully revealed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses in which the lattice fringes and diffraction planes located in between those of ZnO and ZnS phases. Moreover, the electrochemical and optical properties of Zn(O,S) embedded in polyethylene oxide (PEO) nanofiber are found to be better than those of ZnO and ZnS indicating more efficient photocatalytic activities as well. The photocatalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline occurred completely within 2 h of the photocatalytic reaction with a reusability of 95% after five consecutive runs. Finally, the mechanism of photocatalytic hydrogenation by Zn(O,S) embedded in the PEO (PZOS) nanofiber involves a total of six electrons (e-) and six protons (H+) to hydrogenate nitrobenzene to nitrosobenzene, phenylhydroxylamine, and aniline.

Synthesis of flower like microstructured CdZnS films for optoelectronic applications by powder vapor transport technique

Cadmium zinc sulfide (CdZnS) is a remarkable semiconducting material used as window layer in solar cells. Herein, the flower’s like microstructured CdZnS film is synthesized by powder vapor transport (PVT) technique. The structural parameters like lattice constant, various diffraction planes, crystallinity, preferential orientation factor and standard deviation of CdZnS film of good quality growing preferentially along (110) orientations. The growth of longitudinal optical phonons modes at 303 and 599 cm−1 confirms the synthesis of CdZnS film. The values of transmittance and refractive index are ranged from 89.9%–95.2% and 1.53–2.67 whereas the values of energy band gap, oscillator energy and dispersion energy are found to be 2.79, 0.73 and 1.73 eV respectively. The values of dielectric constant are increased with increasing photon energy. The smaller values of dissipation factor and volume/surface energy loss functions of CdZnS film is suitable to make it a good quality capacitor. The electrical conductivity (1.68×103 S cm −1 ) of CdZnS film is increased nonlinearly with increasing temperature and the activation energy is found to be 0.31 eV. It is determined that the synthesized CdZnS film may be used as window layer in solar cells and to make good quality capacitor, hence it may be used in optoelectronic applications.

Microstructure, creep properties, and electrical resistivity of magnetron sputtering deposited SAC305 thin films

This paper investigates the surface morphology, mechanical properties, and electrical resistivity of 96.5Sn–3.0Ag–0.5Cu (SAC305) thin films deposited on Si and SiO2 substrates through RF magnetron sputtering. Various deposition parameters were tested using both DC and RF power sources at different pressures and powers to produce robust continuous films. The most optimal surface morphology, with an average grain size of ∼1 μm and a thickness of ∼2.2 μm, was accomplished at a pressure of 2.4 mTorr and 200 W power. After polishing, a uniform thickness of 1800 nm with a mean roughness (Ra) of 14.9 nm was obtained. The samples contained polycrystalline β-Sn grains at (200) diffraction planes with a preferred orientation 2θ of 30.70°. Although the XRD pattern did not indicate any Ag peaks, weak peaks of Ag3Sn were observed at 2θ of 37.60° and 39.59°, corresponding to diffraction planes (020) and (211), respectively. The electrical resistivity of the SAC305 thin film deposited on the SiO2 substrate and of the bulk SAC305 samples were measured as 19.6 and 13.7 μΩ cm, respectively. It was noted that changes in hold time at peak loads or the rate of loading in the creep experiments did not significantly influence the creep properties of the SAC305 bulk or thin film material.

Four-dimensional electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Recent advances in scanning transmission electron microscopy have enabled atomic-scale focused, coherent, and monochromatic electron probes, achieving nanoscale spatial resolution, meV energy resolution, sufficient momentum resolution, and a wide energy detection range in electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). A four-dimensional EELS (4D-EELS) dataset can be recorded with a slot aperture selecting the specific momentum direction in the diffraction plane and the beam scanning in two spatial dimensions. In this paper, the basic principle of the 4D-EELS technique and a few examples of its application are presented. In addition to parallelly acquired dispersion with energy down to a lattice vibration scale, it can map the real space variation of any EELS spectrum features with a specific momentum transfer and energy loss to study various locally inhomogeneous scattering processes. Furthermore, simple mathematical combinations associating the spectra at different momenta are feasible from the 4D dataset, e.g., the efficient acquisition of a reliable electron magnetic circular dichroism (EMCD) signal is demonstrated. This 4D-EELS technique provides new opportunities to probe the local dispersion and related physical properties at the nanoscale.

Silver decorated lithium niobat nanostructure by UV activation method for silver–lithium niobate/silicon heterojunction device

Lithium niobite (LiNbO3) nanostructure were successfully synthesized by chemical bath deposition method (CBD) and then decorated with silver nitrate (AgNO3) through UV activation method at different immersion durations (5, 15, 25, 35, and 45 s). The silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) effects on the optical and structural properties were studied and analyzed using various scientific devices and technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that all the samples have a hexagonal structure with a maximum diffraction peak at the (012), and the existence of silver atoms could be recognized at 2θ = 38.2° which corresponds to the (111) diffraction plane. The optical absorption of nanocomposites depicted the presence of plasma peak related to silver (Ag) at 350 nm. The estimated energy gap from the optical absorption revealed a reduction in the Eg value from (3.97 eV) to (3.59 eV) with the presence of Ag atom. The Photolumincence (PL) peaks were observed at around 355 nm for pure LiNbO3/Si and 358, 360, 363, 371, 476 nm for different immersion durations respectively, in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study illustrated that with increasing the immersion time, especially at 45 s, a change in the particle morphology was observed (LiNbO3 NRs structure). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) displayed that the surface roughness decreases from 80.71 nm for pure sample to 23.02 nm for the decorated sample as the immersion time is increased. FT-IR manifested a noticeable increase in the intensity of the peaks of samples decorated with AgNPs. Raman spectroscopy elucidated that the peaks shifted to higher intensity due to the plasmonic effect of Ag nanoparticles. Ag–LiNbO3/Si heterojunction nano-devices were fabricated successfully and enhanced the optoelectronic properties in comparison with the pure LiNbO3/Si heterojunction device.

Investigation of Interfacial and Interdiffusion Study of Ti2N MXene Phase from TiN/Ti multilayers

Ti2N MXene phase was synthesized by interdiffusion of TiN/Ti multilayers by dc-magnetron sputtering at 698 K. The Atomic force microscopy (AFM) reveals the root mean square (RMS) roughness of the TiN/Ti multilayer was ∼4.78 nm of pristine samples which increased to ∼5.74 nm after annealing. The total thickness of (TiN10 nm/Ti10 nm), (TiN5 nm/Ti5 nm), and (TiN2.5 nm/Ti2.5 nm) multilayers was 200 nm as estimated by X-ray reflectivity (XRR). The secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) data reveals the diffusivity of N2 in the (TiN/Ti) multilayer is ∼10−18 m2s−1 at 698 K. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) planes of (112), (200), (220), (224) are at 36.95⁰, 42.89⁰, 62.25⁰, and 78.53⁰ 2θ values respectively confirming the Ti2N MXene phase and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed Ti(2p) and N(1s) core orbitals are at 457.14 eV and 397.17 eV on the surface of TiN/Ti multilayer thin films. The X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of N and Ti L-edges were found at 404.51 eV, and 462.38 eV respectively which were shifted towards the right and left respectively after annealing indicating an increase and decrease in the oxidation state. Raman bands TA, LA, and TO were shifted towards higher wave numbers to 238, 337, and 634 cm−1 respectively for annealed TiN/Ti multilayer thin films.

Optimization of parameters for adsorption of acid yellow 36 dye onto nitrate‐intercalated MgAl LDH nanoparticle using Box–Behnken design

AbstractBACKGROUNDLayered double hydroxide nanoparticles have been extensively investigated and exploited for the removal of harmful anions from contaminated water. For adsorption of acid yellow dye (AY) from contaminated water, nitrate‐intercalated MgAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles were synthesized using the co‐precipitation method with the refluxing condition in a nitrogen atmosphere.RESULTSThe X‐ray diffraction pattern of LDH nanoparticles showed that LDH nanopowder with nitrate in the interlayer position was successfully synthesized. The shift in (003) basal plane diffraction peak to a lower angle (2θ) of 7.75° in the LDH‐AY from 10.40° in the pristine LDH confirmed the intercalation of AY in the interlayer space of LDH. Variable factors for the adsorption of the AY on the LDH nanoparticles were examined in the batch process using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and those included the adsorbent dose (5–30 mg), the incubation time (3–60 min), the temperature (25–50 °C), the pH of the AY aqueous suspension (5–9) and the AY concentration (0.03–0.1 mg mL−1). Box–Behnken design was used to optimize the three independent variables of temperature, incubation time and pH of AY solution for the adsorption of the dye. The optimized values of the incubation time, temperature and pH were found to be 25.89 min, 35.99 °C and 5.16, respectively. A maximum adsorption rate of 0.00515 g mg−1 min−1 of AY onto LDH nanoparticles was found at a solution pH of 5 and a temperature of 50 °C. The adsorption kinetics of the AY at different suspension pH values and temperature followed a pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model. Furthermore, an adsorption isotherm study for the adsorption of AY at a temperature of 40 °C and pH 5 followed a Langmuir isotherm model, and the maximum adsorption capacity of the AY was calculated to be 412.55 mg g−1 with excellent regeneration capacity.CONCLUSIONThe study revealed that the synthesized nitrate intercalated Mg Al LDH nanoparticles using the reflux conditions offered promising potential to adsorb acid yellow 36 dye form its aqueous solution. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

Enhanced physical properties of nickel telluride metal chalcogenide material with molybdenum dopant

ABSTRACT In the study, nickel telluride and molybdenum dopants were synthesised using an electrochemical deposition approach. The nanoparticle of the material shows the reaction between the transition metal and chalcogenide material, and the nickel telluride pristine demonstrates that the film surface provides a clean image of melted wax with splattered evidence of oil on the film. The film that was deposited at 0.1 mol% clearly shows how the dopant changed the melted wax to nanoparticles, demonstrating the compatibility of the two materials. The structural patterns showed diffraction peaks at the (111), (200), (210), (211), (300), and (311) diffraction planes, which are equivalent to 13.22 °, 16.95 °, 18.85 °, 25.93 °, 30.84 °, and 32.98 ° for nickel telluride and 13.38 °, 16.93 °, 19.02 °, 25.95 °, 30.85, and 33.02 ° for molybdenum-doped nickel telluride. Both nickel telluride and molybdenum-doped nickel telluride materials produced similar peaks. When the dopant was added, the thickness of the molybdenum-doped nickel telluride films grew from 132.02 to 147.57 nm. The UV area of the spectra was found to have the maximum absorbance and reflectance, however, the transmittance increased as the wavelength of the incident radiation increased. The absorbance, transmittance, and reflectance of nickel telluride and molybdenum-doped nickel telluride thin film material are improved by the addition of molybdenum as a dopant. The energy bandgap of the synthesised films; the nickel telluride has 1.18 eV, while the doped nickel telluride has an energy bandgap of 1.50–1.55 eV which shows that the energy bandgap narrows as molybdenum-dopant concentration rises.

Ultrafast photodegradation of textile industry dyes using efficient sulfide based ternary nanocomposites

We developed novel zinc-cadmium-bismuth sulfide (Zn–Cd–Bi2S3) and Zn–Cd–SnS nanocomposites to fabricate a heterojunction by an easy chemical technique to improve photocatalytic degradation of textile dye. Crystalline size and lattice parameter are analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometer. The obtained strong diffraction peaks with various diffraction planes confirm the fabrication of a high crystal quality nanocomposite as well as the identification of its mixed crystal structure. The morphological information is studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Due to its higher surface energy, the as-prepared nanocomposite displayed agglomeration by adjoining to tiny particles. The roughness of surface is studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) used to study about presence of organic functional groups on the surface of nanocomposite. Using UV–Visible and photoluminescence spectra, the impact of shifting the positions of Sn and Bi ions on the optical characteristics is investigated. Thermal property of the nanocomposite is studied by thermogravimetric–differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA) at air atmosphere. We examine and compared the photocatalytic activity of Zn–Cd–Bi2S3 and Zn–Cd–SnS nanocomposites for the crystal violet (CV) dye. Under the sun light irradiation Zn–Cd–Bi2S3 nanocomposite demonstrated a highest percentage of degradation (88.5%) within a short period (120 min). The obtained photocatalytic results indicate that the active radicals •O2-, h+, and •OH- are favourable for the photocatalytic reaction. A possible photocatalytic mechanism for the dye degradation for the photocatalyst is proposed. Due to the narrow band gap, wide range of incident light captured by the heterostructure nanocomposite and the photogenerated electrons and holes is effectively separated in the Zn–Cd–Bi2S3.

X-Rays Diffraction Study of InGaN/GaN Heterostructures Grown by MOCVD Technique at Different Temperatures

Indium gallium nitride / gallium nitride (InGaN/GaN) heterostructures were grown by using metal organic vapor deposition technique with four different growth temperatures (740 °C, 760 °C, 780 °C, and 800 °C). The structural properties and crystalline quality were investigated using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) technique. XRD ω-2θ scan mode at GaN (002) diffraction plane was performed to assess the film’s quality. Through the simulation fitting, the indium composition and the thickness of the thin films were obtained. From the observation, an increase in the growth temperature resulted in higher intensity and smaller full-width at half maximum value of the InGaN (002) diffraction peak, which indicated improvement to the crystalline quality of the InGaN/GaN heterostructure. Moreover, the indium composition of the InGaN epilayer was found to decrease with an increase of the growth temperature due to the thermal decomposition of In-N bond and its re-evaporation from the growing surfaces.

Generation of microcrystalline cellulose from cotton waste and its properties

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a green material that has widespread applications in pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and other industries because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, hydrophilicity, and acid-insolubility. In this study, MCC was prepared from cotton waste via alkaline treatment and sulfuric acid hydrolysis. Further, the synthesized cotton-based MCC was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopies. Based on these results, the major components were identified as carbon and oxygen. This finding was evidenced by the FTIR analysis, which displayed peak wavenumbers at 3446.9, 2891.1, 1649.5, 1380.1, 1061.2, and 1050 to 1150 cm-1. The surface morphology was also examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy and field emission transmission electron microscopy, which showed that the prepared MCC has a smooth surface and a consistent, rod-like shape. In addition, the MCC exhibited the typical diffraction peaks of a crystalline structure of cellulose II at 12.2°, 20°, and 22.03°, which correspond to the diffraction planes of 1-10, 110, and 020, respectively, and had a crystallinity index of 78.7%. Moreover, the prepared MCC had a diameter of 37.8 µm and exhibited good stability with a peak at -76.5 mV. Further, the cotton-based MCC exhibited high thermal stability, as revealed by the TGA.

Optical and electrical properties of polyethylene oxide‐poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)/NiZnFeO4 NPs nanocomposite films

AbstractPolyethylene oxide‐poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEO‐PEDOT) nanocomposite films ‐ incorporated with nanoparticles () were deposited using a dip‐coating technique. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed peaks at 35.4, 43.2, 54.5, and 56.3° diffraction angles, corresponding to diffraction planes of , , , and , respectively. The PEO‐PEDOT film exhibited a smooth amorphous nature with a sheet nanostructure behavior. The incorporation of NPs into the PEO‐PEDOT nanocomposite films led to an increase in surface roughness and thermal stability. The nanocomposite films also exhibited sheet nanostructure behavior as observed by SEM micrographs. The bandgap energies of the films, as deduced from the Tauc plot, exhibited a monotonic decrease from 3.91 to 3.60 eV as the concentration increased from 0 to 8 wt%. A mathematical model was formulated to predict the bandgap energies versus concentration. Additionally, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite films increased monotonically from 0.46 to 1.30 mS cm−1 as the concentration increased from 0 to 8 wt%, as determined by 4‐point probe. The observed correlation between the optical and electrical properties of the nanocomposite films indicates promising prospects for utilizing these materials in optoelectronic devices.

SnO2-Cu2S nanocomposites: Structural and optical properties with enhanced photocatalytic activities for ciprofloxacin antibiotic and methylene blue dye degradation

Pharmaceutical products and industrial dyes released to water bodies have become major environmental concerns and applications of nanomaterials for their remediation have been receiving a lot of research attention in recent years. In this connection, different SnO2–Cu2S nanocomposites (NCs) have been synthesized by growing Cu2S over previously prepared SnO2 nanocrystals by taking different molarities of copper and sulphur precursors. The pure SnO2 nanocrystals have been prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method combined with calcination of the precipitated materials at 300 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the pure SnO2 nanocrystals shows the formation of tetragonal crystal structure. UV–visible–NIR absorption spectrum of the pure SnO2 nanocrystals records absorption peak in the UV region, while the Tauc's plot estimates the band gap of SnO2 to be 3.93 eV. Photoluminescence (PL) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies reveal the presence of oxygen vacancies in the pure SnO2 nanocrystals. XRD patterns of the NCs comprise of diffraction planes from both tetragonal SnO2 and monoclinic Cu2S. PL studies show presence of both oxygen vacancies and copper vacancies in the NCs. Further, presence of copper vacancies has been evidenced in the EPR signals of the NCs. The NCs show significantly enhanced photocatalytic activities for degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic and methylene blue (MB) dye under simulated sunlight irradiation, which is attributed to type II heterojunction formation between SnO2 and Cu2S. The NC with the best performance as a photocatalyst degrades 96% of CIP after 120 min and 98% of MB after 210 min of light exposure.

Growth and characterization of Fe2+:ZnSe single crystals for tunable mid-infrared lasers

Iron-doped ZnSe (Fe:ZnSe) single crystals were grown by the traveling heater method with the accelerated crucible rotation technique (ACRT) using SnSe as a solvent. The as-grown Fe:ZnSe single crystals were characterized by XRD, Raman, XPS, IR transmission imaging microscope, and the X-ray rocking curve. The results show two kinds of inclusions existing in Fe:ZnSe crystals, i.e. solvent SnSe inclusions, and hexagonal ZnSe inclusions with a wurtzite structure. The inclusions with sizes ranging from 30 to 150 μm were homogeneous distributed with a total concentration of only 2.68 × 102 cm−2. The full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of X-ray rocking curve on (220) diffraction planes was 38 arcsec and the average infrared transmittance exceeded 70%. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the iron ions were successfully incorporated into ZnSe lattice without degrading the crystalline quality, and the bivalence was dominant for iron atoms in Fe:ZnSe crystals, meaning that they are suitable for developing mid-infrared (3–5 μm) gain medium applications.

The Effect of Annealing Treatment on WO3 Thin Film Prepared by Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering for Photo-electrochemical Water Splitting Application

In this work, WO3 thin films were fabricated by reactive DC magnetron sputtering, and then thermally annealed at 400°C for 2 h under air, low vacuum and high vacuum. After the annealing treatments, the morphology and crystallinity of the WO3 thin films were observed using FE-SEM, GI-XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The optical properties were analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results showed the decrease of film thickness under different annealing conditions. In addition, the annealing conditions also affected the crystalline structure at diffraction planes (200) and (002). The transmittance of the WO3 thin films revealed that the annealing treatment at high vacuum led to lower transparency. Furthermore, the WO3 thin film annealed under air produced the highest PEC efficiency. Therefore, this approach offers an alternative strategy for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting application.

Study of one-dimensional of W/SiO2 grating selective thermal emitter for thermophotovoltaic applications

In this paper, a one-dimensional multilayer is optimized for potential applications as thermophotovoltaic (TPV) selective emitter. The effect of the diffraction orders and plane of incidence on the spectral emittance of the proposed TPV emitter is calculated numerically by using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA). The emittance spectrum of the proposed TPV selective emitter shows three close to unity emission peaks which are explained by the surface plasmon polariton (SPP), gap plasmon polariton (GPP) and magnetic polariton (MP) excitation. The strong emittance at short wavelengths occurs due to three peaks, one close to unity at 1.2μm wavelength, and two equal to unity at 0.8 and 1.59μm wavelengths. The proposed structure can be used as a selective emitter for TPV applications.

Spherical crown holographic display with planar SLM

Spherical holography can expand the viewing angle, while the unavailability of spherical spatial light modulators (SLM) and the huge sampling number are challenges for spherical holography. In this paper, we propose a spherical crown holographic display method based on planar SLM. First by analyzing the diffraction formula of concentric spheres, the relationship between it and the plane diffraction is found. Then it is proposed that a spherical hologram loaded on a commercial planar SLM can reproduce the target object correctly with a reasonable number of sampling points. The method can be combined with spatiotemporal multiplexing and curved multiplexing to further expand the viewing angle and information capacity, respectively. It provides a new perspective for spherical holography, and has broad prospects in the field of 3D holographic display.

Structural and optical properties of DC sputtered AlxOy/Cr/AlxOy multilayer selective absorber coatings

AlxOy/Cr/AlxOy multilayered selective absorber was theoretically optimized using the individual layers’ optical constants acquired through fitting the transmittance and reflectance measurements into SCOUT software. The optimized multilayer was deposited onto polished aluminium substrates by DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The structural analysis of the multilayer stack revealed low crystalline diffraction peaks of Cr at 2θ ≈ 43.3° ascribed to (110) diffraction plane of BCC Cr metal. However, due to the amorphous nature of the deposited films, no AlxOy phase was detected by XRD. SEM and AFM analysis revealed the uniformly and densely distributed small grains with a considerably average surface roughness of ∼5.6 nm. The deposited AlxOy/Cr/AlxOy multilayered stack was found to have an optical absorptance of 0.91 and thermal emittance of 0.12 at a temperature of 373 K, which is potential and suitable for selective solar absorbers applications.

Influence of Deposition Voltage on Strontium Sulphide Doped Silver for Optoelectronic Application

In the research electrochemical deposition technique was use in deposition of undoped SrS and doped SrS with silver were 0.01 mol of thioacetamide (C2H5NS), 0.1 mol of strontium chloride hexahydrate (SrCl2.6H2O), and 0.01 mol of silver nitrate (AgNO3) were utilized as the cationic, anionic, and dopant concentrations. The XRD spectra of the SrS and SrS doped silver showed prominent crystalline peaks at angles of 26.69°, 37.97°, 51.39°, and 65.56° for SrS and 26.42°, 33.42°, 37.98°, and 51.32° for SrS/Ag, respectively, with corresponding diffraction planes (111), (112), (200), and (211). However, the diffraction pattern shows that the peak intensity increases as the deposition voltage increases. The undoped SrS material morphology has a clove-like substance with precipitate; the large nano grain on the substrate's surface exhibits photon absorption but shows no traces of pinholes. When doped SrS is deposited at various precursor voltages, it forms uniform surfaces devoid of pinholes. The cell also penetrates the substrate being used for the deposition, as seen by the elemental makeup of the films. It was observed that SrS/Ag at 10V and 12V had little precipitate on the surfaces; this is because a carbon electrode was utilized, which tends to react with electrolyte at low voltages but does not do so at 14V. The films show that when the deposition voltage increased, the electrical resistivity decreased from 1.42 x 109 to 1.37 x 109 Ω.m and the thickness decreased from 125.02 to 123.025nm. This further led to an increase in conductivity from 7.04 x 108 to 7.29 x 108 S/m. It was discovered that the absorbance decreases as the electromagnetic radiation's wavelength grows and the deposition voltage rises. According to research done on the deposited material, its energy bandgap lies between 1.55 and 2.51 eV.

Effect of Ar:O2 ratio on magnetic properties of ZnO:Y thin films

4 at.% Y-doped ZnO (4YZO) thin film was fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering, on Si(111) substrate upon varying Ar:O2 ratios (75:25, 50:50, and 40:60). The effect of Ar:O2 ratio on morphological, structural, magnetic, and optical properties of these films have been investigated in detail. The films orientated along the (002) diffraction plane were confirmed by X-ray diffraction pattern. The defect centres in the prepared films were analysed using visible band emission from Photoluminescence spectra which showed the presence of oxygen vacancy (VO+) and zinc interstitial (Zni+). The number of donor defects (VO+ and Zni+) in the films were reduced with an increase in O2 content. The vibrating sample magnetometer results indicated that 4 at.% Y-doped ZnO thin film deposited at an Ar:O2 ratio of 75:25 exhibited ferromagnetic property with a saturation magnetization value of 2.01 emu/cm3. The observed magnetic coercivity value of 500 Oe, makes it suitable for non-volatile magnetic memory storage applications. The films prepared using an Ar:O2 ratio of 50:50 and 40:60 showed a blend of paramagnetic and weak ferromagnetic behaviour. The donor defects present in the films were responsible for the ferromagnetism in 4YZO thin films. The magnetic properties of 4YZO thin films have been explained using the bound magnetic polaron (BMP) model.