Investigation of structural, morphological and optical properties of electrodeposited SnO2 thin films

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the deposition time effects on structural, morphological and optical properties of electrodeposited SnO 2 thin films. Tin oxide thin films were deposited at 10, 15 and 20 min deposition times and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) and UV-VIS spectrometer. XRD results showed that SnO 2 thin films were polycrystalline with tetragonal crystal structure and increasing the deposition time improved the crystallinity of SnO 2. From SEM images, there were particles on the surface of SnO 2 and particle size depended on deposition time. EDX analysis confirmed that the amount of Sn and O elements increased with increasing deposition time. From the optical studies, it was found that the transmittance values in visible region varied between 69.53 and 86.27%. These findings showed that SnO 2 films can be electrodeposited without oxygen rich environment at room temperature. Also, the films obtained can be used in many devices such as solar cells and gas sensors.