Structural and Optical Properties of Chemical Bath Deposited Silver Oxide Thin Films: Role of Deposition Time

Silver oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates at a temperature of 50 degrees C by chemical bath deposition technique under different deposition times using pure AgNO3 precursor and triethanolamine as the complexing agent. The chemical analysis based on EDX technique shows the presence of Ag and O at the appropriate energy levels. The morphological features obtained from SEM showed that the AgxO structures varied as the deposition time changes. The X-ray diffraction showed the peaks of Ag2O and AgO in the structure. The direct band gap and the refractive index increased as the deposition time increased and was in the range of 1.64-1.95 eV and 1.02-2.07, respectively. The values of the band gap and refractive index obtained indicate possible applications in photovoltaic and photothermal systems.