Photocatalytic and electrically conductive transparent Cl-doped ZnO thin films via aerosolassisted chemical vapour deposition

A simple, economical and effective solution-based chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique, aerosol-assisted CVD, has been successfully applied to produce inexpensive Cl-doped ZnO films using Zn acetate dihydrate and FeCl3. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the increase in cell parameters from powder X-ray diffraction determined that Cl had been doped into the wurtzite ZnO lattice. The Cl-doping had a significant effect on the morphology of the thin films synthesised and resulted in an improvement in the visible light transmission and lower electrical resistance (typical resistivities of doped films approximate to 10(-2) cm). The highest transmittance (% T) of 85% was obtained when 7 mol% FeCl3 was used in the precursor solution and the lowest resistivity of 4.28 +/- 0.41 x 10(-2) cm was obtained with 5 mol% FeCl3. The greatest photocatalytic activity of stearic acid degradation under UVA irradiation was obtained on using 10 mol% FeCl3, resulting in the highest formal quantum efficiency (FQE) of 3.0 +/- 0.1 x 10(-4) molecule per photon. These films, therefore, display transparent conducting oxide and photocatalytic properties, giving multifunctional characteristics and promising applications.