Doping-free bandgap tunability in Fe2O3 nanostructured films

A tunable bandgap without doping is highly desirable for applications in optoelectronic devices. Herein, we develop a new method which can tune the bandgap without any doping. In the present research, the bandgap of Fe2O3 nanostructured films is simply tuned by changing the synthesis temperature. The Fe2O3 nanostructured films are synthesized on ITO/glass substrates at temperatures of 1100, 1150, 1200, and 1250 degrees C using the hot filament metal oxide vapor deposition (HFMOVD) and thermal oxidation techniques. The Fe2O3 nanostructured films contain two mixtures of Fe2+ and Fe3+ cations and two trigonal (alpha) and cubic (gamma) phases. The increase of the Fe2+ cations and cubic (gamma) phase with the elevated synthesis temperatures lifted the valence band edge, indicating a reduction in the bandgap. The linear bandgap reduction of 0.55 eV without any doping makes the Fe2O3 nanostructured films promising materials for applications in bandgap engineering, optoelectronic devices, and energy storage devices.

Automated summary

A tunable bandgap without doping has been achieved by simply changing the synthesis temperature of Fe2O3 nanostructured films. The increase of Fe2+ cations and cubic (gamma) phase with elevated synthesis temperatures resulted in a reduction in the bandgap. This non-doping linear bandgap reduction of 0.55 eV makes Fe2O3 nanostructured films promising materials for applications in bandgap engineering, optoelectronic devices, and energy storage devices.