Study of Optical and Electrical Properties of Nickel Oxide (NiO) Thin Films Deposited by Using a Spray Pyrolysis Technique

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin film has been deposited on a glass substrate at a temperature of 390°C ± 10°C using a simple and inexpensive spray pyrolysis technique. Nickel nitrate salt solution (Ni(NO3)2·6H2O) was employed to prepare the films and the film thickness was in order of 200 ± 5 nm. The structural, optical and electrical properties of NiO films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), visible spectrum, DC conductivity and Seebeck effect measurements. The results show that X-ray diffraction techniques have shown that prepared film is polycrystalline structure type cubic phase. The measurements of optical properties (transmittance (T) and absorbance (A)) of NiO films show that higher transmittance is 37.4% within the wavelength range (300 - 900 nm). Also the results have shown that the higher absorbance is 77.7%. The results of electrical properties have shown that at room temperature electrical conductivity is 1.3 × 10-5 (Ω·cm)-1, and also results have shown that all the films are of p-type due to the negative Seebeck coefficient.