Articles written in Bulletin of Materials Science

• Structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of Ni-doped SnO$_2$ thin films by pneumatic spray pyrolysis method

In this study, we used a pneumatic spray pyrolysis technique at 450°C to deposit Sn$_{1–x}$Ni$_x$O$_2$ thin films (0.0 ${\le}$ x ${\le}$ 0.10) on glass substrates. The influence of doping content on the films structural, morphological, optical andelectrical properties was investigated. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction indicated that the rutile phase of SnO$_2$ is present in all thin films, and crystallite sizes are estimated to be in the range of 27–47 nm. Furthermore, structural and microstructural analyses revealed that at x = 0.05, there is a solubility limit for (Ni/Sn) in the SnO$_2$ matrix. The optical bandgap energy increases from 3.83 to 4.01 eV as the dopant content increases according to the Burstein-Moss effect. Resistivity is affected by doping and the thickness of thin films. The figure-of-merit calculated for all samples showed significant differences in the Ni–SnO$_2$ thin films. There was a difference between the doped thin films depending on the thickness. The lowest resistivity of 1.32${\times}$10$^{-2}$ ${\Omega}$ cm and the maximum conductivity of 75 ${\Omega}^{-1}$ cm$^{-1}$ was found at a Ni content of 2%. Seebeck coefficient of all the thin films developed had n-type conductivity, and the values of 76, 71,133 and 69 ${\mu}$ V/K for Ni-doped SnO$_2$ thin films at 0, 2, 5 and 10 at.%, respectively, were found to improve the thermoelectric properties of SnO$_2$ by Ni doping.

• # Bulletin of Materials Science

Volume 46, 2023
All articles
Continuous Article Publishing mode

• # Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar for Science and Technology

Posted on October 12, 2020

Prof. Subi Jacob George — Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bengaluru
Chemical Sciences 2020