1Regional Center of Excellence for Electricity Management (CERME), University of Lomé, 01BP 1515, Lomé, Togo
2Laboratory on Solar Energy, Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lomé, 01BP 1515, Lomé, Togo
3School of Arts and Natural Sciences, Joy University, Raja Nagar, Vadakangulam, Near Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli Dist.-627116, Tamil Nadu, India
4 Physics of Semiconductor Materials and Components Laboratory, Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lomé, 01BP 1515, Lomé, Togo
5 Physics Department, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, United States
6 National Coalition of Independent Scholars, United States
BibTex Citation Data :
@article{IJRED61069, author = {Ognanmi Ako and Mazabalo Baneto and Muthusamy Senthilkumar and Muthiah Haris and Alphonse Déssoudji Gboglo and Komlan Segbéya Gadedjisso-Tossou and Ayayi Claude Ahyi and Katawoura Beltako and Komi Apélété Amou}, title = {Simultaneous effect of precursor sources and concentration on structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO nanostructured thin films for photovoltaic applications}, journal = {International Journal of Renewable Energy Development}, volume = {14}, number = {3}, year = {2025}, keywords = {zinc oxide; nanostructure; precursor concentration; precursor source; spray pyrolysis}, abstract = {The collection and transport of charges at the electrodes are the main factors limiting the efficiency of organic solar cells. Zinc oxide (ZnO) in nanostructured form helps to overcome this problem by introducing a ZnO buffer layer between the photoanode and the donor material. To achieve this, the ZnO thin film must exhibit good crystallinity, along with good electrical conductivity and high optical transparency in the visible range. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of precursor sources and precursor concentrations on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of ZnO thin films. Three different precursor sources have been used: zinc acetate, zinc chloride and zinc nitrate. In each deposition solution, the precursor concentration varied from 0.1 M to 0.3 M. The ZnO films were deposited on glass substrates and all the films were annealed at 400°C for 3 hours. The structural, morphological and optical properties of deposited films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-visible spectroscopy respectively. XRD results showed that, regardless of the precursor source, all the ZnO films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. ZnO films obtained from acetate and nitrate sources crystallize preferentially along (002) and the peak intensity increases as the precursor concentration increases. SEM images showed that all the ZnO films are homogeneous, but films deposited from zinc acetate and zinc nitrate looked more compact and smoother than those obtained with zinc chloride which looked porous. UV-visible spectroscopy results revealed that the films transmittance depends both on precursor source and concentration. ZnO thin films deposited from zinc acetate at 0.3M concentration exhibit the best transmittance of 95% due to their smooth and uniform surfaces. The band gap of ZnO obtained from the zinc acetate precursor decreases with increasing solution concentration. It is found to be 3.29 eV, 3.26 eV, and 3.22 eV for concentrations of 0.1 M, 0.2 M, and 0.3 M, respectively. It therefore appears that ZnO films obtained from zinc acetate can be used as an electron transport layer for solar cells as they exhibit the best crystallinity and the highest transmittance.}, pages = {495--504} doi = {10.61435/ijred.2025.61069}, url = {https://ijred.cbiore.id/index.php/ijred/article/view/61069} }
Refworks Citation Data :
Article Metrics:
Last update:
Last update: 2025-05-24 09:00:52
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Articles are freely available to both subscribers and the wider public with permitted reuse.
All articles published Open Access will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. We are continuously working with our author communities to select the best choice of license options: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA). Authors and readers can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (cite to the article or content), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
International Journal of Renewable Energy Development (ISSN:2252-4940) published by CBIORE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.