Deposition of transparent mesoporous SnO2-Fe thin films by a dip coating process and determination of the optical band gap by a numerical procedure

In this research mesoporous SnO2-Fe thin films were deposited on glass plates by an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process using a dip coating method. The starting solution was prepared by mixing iron chloride, tin chloride, and CTAB dissolved in ethanol. Five to seventy five mole percent Fe-doped SnO2 films were prepared by heat-treatment at 500 °C for 5 h. The structural and optical properties of mesoporous SnO2-Fe thin films were investigated. The optical band gap of thin films is determined by a numerical procedure based on the absorbance spectrum fitting (AFS) method by using the Tauc model. The obtained results for optical band gap were similar to these values that were obtained by different methods. The optical band gap increased by Fe/Sn ratio decreasing

Keywords:

SnO2-Fe thin films , Sol-gel dip coating , Optical band gap