ZnO thin films with and without Ni-doping were successfully deposited by sol-gel method with zinc acetate dihydrate as inorganic precursor, and nickel (II) acetate tetrahydrate as dopant. The solutions were prepared by dissolving zinc acetate and nickel (II) acetate in ethanol and diethanolamine (DEA) as its chelating agent. Thin films were fabricated by using spin-coating method on glass substrates. ZnO films were obtained by pre-heating and post-heating at 300 °C for 10 minutes and 500 °C for 1 h respectively. The films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis transmittance and photoluminescence (PL). All samples exhibit high transparency in visible. Ni dopant does not alter so much ZnO structure, which due to the ion substitution between Ni and Zn. However, the Ni tends to create a dopant energy interlayer in ZnO energy band gap which cause significant change in PL intensity.
Optimization and comparative evaluation of optical and photocatalytic properties of TiO2 thin films prepared via sol–gel method
