TiO2/Ni composite as antireflection coating for solar cell application

•Optical band gap increased with increasing of Ni concentrations.•Reflectance decreased with the increasing of Ni concentratins significantly.•Empirical equations were estimated which fit perfectly with experimental data.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) considered as one of the best material already used as a window in solar cells due to its antireflection capability. In this work, pure and Ni-doped (1, 3 and 5 wt%) TiO2 thin films were deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. The optical measurements obtained by UV–vis indicate that the highest optical band gap was found with (5%) doping level (Eg=3.82 eV), corresponding to a lower reflectance and higher transmittance. Empirical equations between energy band gap and concentration level, reflectance with energy band gap, refractive index and concentration have been determined; a perfect fit with the experimental data was obtained.