Probing optical band gaps at nanoscale from tetrahedral cation vacancy defects and variation of cation ordering in NiCo2O4 epitaxial thin films

High resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS) is utilized to probe the optical band gaps at the nanoscale in epitaxial NiCo2O4 (NCO) thin films with different structural order (cation/charge). The structure of NCO deviates from the ideal inverse spinel (non-magnetic and insulating) for films grown at higher temperatures (>500 degrees C) towards a mixed cation structure (magnetic with metallic conductivity) at lower deposition temperatures (<450 degrees C). This significantly modifies the electronic structure as well as the nature of the band gap of the material. Nanoscale regions with unoccupied tetrahedral A site cations are additionally observed in all the samples and direct measurement from such areas reveals considerably lower band gap values as compared to the ideal inverse spinel and mixed cation configurations. Experimental values of band gaps have been found to be in good agreement with the theoretical mBJLDA exchange potential based calculated band gaps for various cation ordering and consideration of A site cation vacancy defects. The origin of rich variation in cation ordering observed in this system is discussed.