Preparation and Characterization of Zn _x Cu_(1−x)O Composite Films on Glass Substrates Through SILAR Processing

CuO composite thin films with and without Zn-doping are deposited onto glass substrates by the SILAR method. All the films are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV–Vis spectrophotometry, temperature dependent dc conductivity, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. SEM results show that the particle size decreases from 27 to 16 nm with increasing Zn-doping. EDX analysis evidences the amount of Zn in CuO films, which increases with increasing Zn concentration in the growth solutions. Transmittance, optical band gap, and activation energy values of the films are found to be increasing from the UV–Vis and temperature dependent dc conductivity measurements with increasing Zn-doping. It also is found from the XRD patterns that mean crystallite size of the films decreases from 18.94 to 13.70 nm with increasing Zn-doping. Moreover, increase in Zn concentration results peak shifts to lower 2θ values.