Effect of Precursor Concentration on the Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of WO3 Thin Films Prepared by Spray Pyrolysis

Abstract

Using a chemical spray technique, an n-type WO 3 polycrystalline thin film was prepared with optimizing parameters (molarity concentration of 80 mM and a substrate temperature of 350 °C). Study the physical properties of WO 3 thin film via UV-Visible spectroscopy, XRD, Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and current-voltage. Tungsten oxide was deposited on glass surfaces at different molarities ranging from 50–90mM. In the UV-Visible spectrum of the WO 3 thin film, it was found that the transmittance, reflectivity, and energy gap decreased (78%–53%), (9.63%–5.02%), and (3.40eV–2.63 eV), respectively. The X-ray diffraction of the WO 3 film at the optimized was poly-crystalline and had a monoclinic phase, and the preferred orientation (hkl) was 200 at 2 = 24.19. From the image FESEM and EDX, it was found that it has a multi-fibrous network. The average diameter of the fiber is 266 nm, and the ratio of tungsten to oxygen (W/O) is 2.6, with a stoichiometric of 68.6% at the 80 mM concentration. The Atomic Force Microscopy shows that the WO 3 thin layer has a nanostructure. The average surface roughness was 5.3 nm, and the Root Mean Square was 8.6 nm. The WO 3 film had the lowest resistivity value of 2.393 × 108  cm, and the activation energy was 0.298 eV, among the parameter of the current voltage at substrate temperature and concentration optimum.