https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00706-z
Regular Article
Effect of precursor nature on physical properties of chemically sprayed MgO thin films for optoelectronic application
1
LR99ES13 Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée (LPMC), Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia
2
Université Tunis El Manar, IPEIEM, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia
3
Institut Supérieur des Sciences Appliquées et technologie de Kairouan, Kairouan, Tunisia
Received:
24
January
2020
Accepted:
24
August
2020
Published online:
31
August
2020
Magnesium oxide (MgO) thin layers were successfully synthesized by spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates. Different precursors were used to prepare the solution such as MgCl2, Mg(NO3)2 and Mg(CH3COO)2, where water was used as solvent. Structural, optical and morphological properties of MgO thin films were investigated, respectively, by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), spectrophotometry and atomic force microscopy. All diffraction peaks of XRD spectra confirm the face-centered cubic structure of MgO material. The best crystalline quality was obtained for optimum MgO thin films elaborated by using Mg(CH3COO)2 precursor. The highest crystallite size was obtained for optimum MgO thin film which equals to 37.6 nm. We have confirmed the purity phase of optimum MgO material by fitting the experimental diffractogram using Maud software. Furthermore, FTIR analysis revealed that MgO layers attract CO2, CO32− and mainly H2O molecules from the atmosphere. High transparent and antireflective characters were obtained from transmission spectra. The average transmission value in the visible range of optimum MgO was equal to 89.27%. From Tauc relation, we have obtained a direct band gap energy (Eg) type. Eg was decreased from 4.1 to 4.05 eV for MgO grown by using MgCl2 and Mg(CH3COO)2, respectively. A high photodegradation rate was about 90% after 120 min under sunlight irradiation. This result indicates that optimum MgO thin film grown at Mg(CH3COO)2 precursor can be considered as promising and cheaper alternative for removal of organic pollutants in wastewater treatment.
© Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
