Publication Date:
2018-06-30
Description:
Publication date: September 2018 Source: Vacuum, Volume 155 Author(s): S. Ben Ameur, H. Bel hadjltaief, A. Barhoumi, B. Duponchel, G. Leroy, M. Amlouk, H. Guermazi ZnO and SnO 2 thin films were deposited on glass and Polyetherimide (PEI) flexible substrates by spray pyrolysis deposition at low temperature (250 °C). The structural characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals that PEI promotes the crystallization of ZnO and SnO 2 thin films while the films deposited on glass substrate are amorphous. The physical investigations show that ZnO/PEI and SnO 2 /PEI have a good crystalline quality and high transparency in visible range (T>80%). Their gap energies are calculated from absorbance data (3.3 eV for ZnO and 3.72 eV for SnO 2 ). Furthermore, the surface properties are investigated by atomic force microscopy and contact angle measurements. It is found that the ZnO/PEI film has a higher surface roughness (RMS = 20.20 nm ± 0.62 nm) compared to SnO 2 /PEI (RMS = 5.41 nm ± 0.16 nm). The metal oxides (ZnO and SnO 2 ) catalysts exhibit excellent photodegradation activities under UV irradiation up to 80%. The highest activity was observed for ZnO thin films because it exhibits smaller gap energy. Furthermore, both samples show excellent photocatalytic stability.
Print ISSN:
0042-207X
Electronic ISSN:
1879-2715
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
,
Physics
