EFFECT OF AL DOPING ON STRUCTURAL, OPTICAL, ELECTRICALAND PHOTO-CATALYTIC PROPERTIES OF CUO NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

Pure and Al doped CuO thin films were coated on glass substrate at 400°C by spray pyrolysis
method for various aluminium concentrations (0%,1%, 2% and3%). Undoped and Al doped
CuO thin films were characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, SEM,
EDAX, UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR, Hall measurements and Antibacterial activity.XRDdiffraction patterns reveal that the films are polycrystalline in nature exhibiting monoclinic
crystal phase structure. The prominent peak corresponds to (111) plane and the corresponding
calculated crystallite size varies from 2 to 7 nm. SEM images show that the films exhibit grains
of uniform size which are agglomerated for films with higher dopant concentration. It is found
that the optical transmittance decreases with the increase in Al concentration and good optical
energy band gapvariation was observed from 2.38 to 2.48eV for various Al doping
concentration levels. The main reflection of this mineral could not be detected at these
temperatures by the XRD but due to the higher sensitivity of FTIR technique this identification
is possible. Electrical studies done using Hall measurement system exhibit that the undoped
and Al doped CuO films are p-type semiconductors with carrier concentration in the order of
1014cm-3
. The electrical resistivity of the Al: CuO films ranges from 4.701×10-3
to 6.952×10-3
Ωcm. Also additionally anti-bacterial activity the films were investigated using microbial study
which showed desirable bioactivity on the thin films.