Author(s)

Durgam Komaraiah, Eppa Radha, Y. Vijayakumar, J. Sivakumar, M. V. Ramana Reddy, R. Sayanna

Department of Physics, University College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

Photocatalytic ZnO thin films have been deposited onto glass substrate by spray pyrolysis technique. The sprayed solution consists of 0.1 M of zinc acetate dihydrate dissolved in double distilled water and sprays onto ultrasonically cleaned glass substrates maintained at 350°C, through an air-atomizing nozzle. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDX and UV-VIS spectrophotometer were applied to describe the structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of ZnO catalyst. XRD analysis confirms that the films were found to be single phase hexagonal wurtzite structure. The SEM micrograph of the films is shown highly uniform, crack free and found to be fiber like structures. The optical transmittance spectra of the ZnO thin films were found to be transparent to visible light and the average optical transmittance was greater than 85%. The direct optical band gap energy values of the films shift towards the lower energy as a consequence of the thermal annealing. The Urbach energy of the films was found to increase with annealing temperature. The refractive index of the films was calculated and the refractive index dispersion curve of the films obeys the single oscillator model. The values of oscillatory energy E_o, dispersion energy E_d, and static dielectric constant ε_s for the ZnO thin films were determined. The films were evaluated for their ability to degrade methylene blue. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model was used to interpret quantitatively the observed kinetic experimental result. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO thin films was enhanced by annealing temperature.

ZnO Thin Film, Spray Pyrolysis, Optical Band Gap, Refractive Index, Photo Catalysis

Komaraiah, D. , Radha, E. , Vijayakumar, Y. , Sivakumar, J. , Reddy, M. and Sayanna, R. (2016) Optical, Structural and Morphological Properties of Photocatalytic ZnO Thin Films Deposited by Pray Pyrolysis Technique. Modern Research in Catalysis, 5, 130-146. doi: 10.4236/mrc.2016.54011.