Role of Zn in tuning the structural, morphological and optical properties of V2O5 nanostructures deposited by spray pyrolysis

Abstract Venadium Pentoxide (V2O5) thin films were deposited by employing a spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates at 573 K for different Zn-doping levels (0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 wt%) to study the optical, structural and morphological properties of pure and Zn-doped V2O5 thin films. The characterisation study with powder X-ray diffraction confirms the orthorhombic structure and also that the films grow along (2 0 0) direction with increase in the doping concentration. The Scherer rule was employed to determine the crystallite size and found to be enhanced. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy study reveals that the surface morphology modifications increase with Zn-doping. The surface topography of the prepared films was also studied using AFM and found to be enhanced. The optical energy band gap (Eg) of the prepared films was found to be varying between 3.27 eV and 3.72 eV due to increase in doping concentration. The interesting results of structural and optical parameters with the increase in Zn-doping concentration suggest that these nanostructured films are a promising material for opto-electronic device applications.