SnO2: Investigation of optical, structural, and electrical properties of transparent conductive oxide thin films prepared by nebulized spray pyrolysis for photovoltaic applications

In the present investigation, we are focused on the preparation of Tin based conducting oxide material. The starting material used is Tin (II)Chloride. The molar ratio of the material varies from 0.1 M to 0.5 M by dissolving in isoproponal and a few drops of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) for fine dissolution. The well-clean Micro slides were coated using the Nebulizer Spray Pyrolysis (NSP) process at a deposition temperature of 350 degrees C +/- 10 degrees C and annealed at 300 degrees C for three hours. The structural, optical, electrical, thickness, functional, and morphological studies are validated with and without annealing. The material crystallinity and grain size has been improved while the prepared SnO2 substrates were annealed. The morphological study reveals that the grain size and stoichiometric of the prepared material increases when the molar concentration increases with annealing tem-perature. EDX studies authenticate the presence of required elements (Sn = 85.75 %& O = 11.31 %) and after annealing it shows the elimination of unwanted elements. FTIR analysis was used to compare the bending and stretching vibrations of the functional groups associated with the O-sn-O bond for both annealed and non -annealed samples. The optical band gap values are increased from 3.71 eV to 3.75 eV for with and without samples due to quantum confinement effect. Hall Effect studies shows that after annealing the resistivity will be decreased in the order of 10-3 omega cm.

Automated summary

This investigation focuses on the preparation of Tin-based conducting oxide material using the Nebulizer Spray Pyrolysis process. The annealing of the material improves its crystallinity and grain size, and eliminates unwanted elements. The optical band gap values are increased due to quantum confinement effect.