Facile fabrication and characterization of SnxCu(1-x)O composite films by the SILAR method on glass substrates

CuO composite thin films with Sn-doping are deposited on glass substrates by the SILAR method. All the films are characterized by metallurgical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis. spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Metallurgical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy results revealed that homogeneity of the film surface distorts and particle size decreases from 110 to 43 nm with increasing Sn-doping. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy evidences the amount of Sn in CuO films, which increases with increasing Sn concentration in the growth solutions. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the mean crystallite size of the films is decreasing from ∼14 to ∼9 nm with increasing Sn-doping. Moreover, increase in Sn concentration results new peaks belong to SnO2 phases. UV-Vis. analysis showed that the transmittance and optical band-gap energy values of the films are increasing with increasing Sn-doping. Raman spectrum was also confirmed the phase formation of CuO nanostructures and it was seen that the Sn-doping caused shifts in Raman active modes.