Physical properties of Zn doped TiO2 thin films with spray pyrolysis technique and its effects in antibacterial activity

•Zn-doped TiO2 thin films were deposited on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique.•XRD study confirms the Zn-doped TiO2 films are polycrystalline nature with tetragonal structure.•From the optical study a slight shrinkage of band gap has been observed in the case of the film doped with Zn.•The high transmittance of about 85% in the visible and near infra red regions.•The doped TiO2 thin film yielded the high antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis.

Zinc doped Titanium dioxide (TiO2: Zn) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis technique with the substrate temperature 450 °C. The structural, optical, photoluminescence (PL) properties and morphological studies were investigated for the films deposited with various doping concentration (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 at.%) of zinc. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) had shown the presence of anatase peak with a strong orientation along (1 0 1) plane at 8 at.% of Zn-doped TiO2 film. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study showed the uniform distribution of grains with porous nature. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) observations indicated the tetragonal shape at 8 at.% of Zn-doped TiO2 with the particle size and decrease in surface roughness. The emission at 398 nm was observed at the 8 at.% of Zn-doped TiO2 thin film. The carrier concentration and Hall mobility was increased with doping. The antibacterial activity was highly yielded for the Zn-doped TiO2 thin films.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide