First synthesis of In-doped vanadium pentoxide thin films and their structural, optical and electrical characterization

Indium-doped vanadium pentoxide thin films with different doping levels up to 30 at.% were prepared by spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates of 430 degrees C and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. The results revealed the nanorodand nanobeltshaped particles with the average width of 60-120 nm composed of tetragonal beta-V2O5 phase. Indium introduction made the structure more disordered and decreased the crystallite size from 25 to 11 nm due to the increased nucleation centers. In-doping resulted in an increase in the transparency of the films and a blue shift in their band gap energy from 2.7 to 3.6 eV due to the dominant size effects. All the films are n-type semiconductors whose electron concentration decreased because of substitution of lower valence In3+ for V5+, while their resistivity increased on In-doping as a result of the enhanced structural disorder.

Automated summary

In this study, indium-doped vanadium pentoxide thin films were prepared with different doping levels using the spray pyrolysis technique. The introduction of indium led to a more disordered structure, smaller crystallite size, increased transparency, and a blue shift in band gap energy. The films were found to be n-type semiconductors, with decreased electron concentration and increased resistivity upon indium doping.