Rhodamine (B) photocatalysis under solar light on high crystallineZnO films grown by home-made DC sputtering.

Type : Publication
Auteur(s) :  A. Boughelout, N. ZEBBAR, R. MACALUSO, Z. Zohour, A. Bensouilah, A. Zaffora, M.S. Aida, M. Kechouane, M. Trari.
Année :  2018
Domaine : Sciences des matériaux
Revue : Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics
Résumé en PDF :  (résumé en pdf)
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Mots clés :  ZnO thin films, sputtering, Photoluminescence, Rhodamine (B), Solar light, Photocatalysis.

Résumé : 

ZnO thin films were deposited by home-made DC sputtering of zinc target under mixed gases(Argon, Oxygen) plasma on glass substrates. Films were deposited by varying oxygen partialpressure (PO2) from 0.09 to 1.3 mbar in the deposition chamber, at a fixed substrate temperatureof 100 °C. The samples were characterized by photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD),optical transmissions (UV–vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrical (Hall effect)measurements. The results indicate that by varying the oxygen pressure in the depositionchamber, the films show a precise and well defined photoluminescence emissions for each rangeof pressure covering almost the entire visible domain (UV, UV-Violet, Violet, Blue, and Red) withhigh intensities. Moreover, the deposited films have different defects levels. The XRD analysisindicates that the films are well grown along the c-axis peak, but with different crystallinequality. Optical measurements reveal a high transmission, up to 90%, in the spectral regionbetween 400 and 2500 nm and a large variation of the optical band gap (3.16 – 4.34 eV). As anapplication of the deposited ZnO films, the photo-catalytic degradation of a synthetic solution ofRhodamine B (RhB) poured on a ZnO thin film was successfully achieved and an elimination rateof 38% was obtained after exposing the film to solar light for 3 h.