ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5539-9595

Abstract

NiO films were successfully deposited by sol–gel spin coating on Si, glass, and ITO-covered glass substrates. The impact of the film thickness (the different number of layers), annealing temperatures (from 300 to 500 °C), and the substrate type on the crystal structure, film morphology, optical, and vibrational properties was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed a polycrystalline structure and the appearance of the cubic NiO phase. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) was applied to explore the surface morphology of NiO films, deposited on glass and ITO substrates. The oxidation states of Ni were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The presence of Ni2+ and Ni3+ states was supposed. UV–VIS–NIR spectroscopy revealed that NiO films possessed a high average transparency of up to 74.6% in the visible spectral range when they were deposited on glass substrates, and up to 76.9% for NiO films on ITO substrates. The thermal treatments and the film thickness slightly affected the film transparency in the spectral range of 450–700 nm. The work function (WF) of the samples was determined. This research showed that good properties of sol–gel NiO films can be compared to the properties of those films produced using complicated and expensive techniques.

Disciplines

Physics

DOI

10.3390/gels11120944

Full Publication Date

24-11-2025

Publication Details

Gels

Publisher

MDPI

Funder Name 1

Bulgarian National Science Fund

Award Number 1

KP-06-N78/7

Resource Type

journal article

Resource Version

http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85

Access Rights

open access

Open Access Route

Gold Open Access

License Condition

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Alternative Identifier

https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/11/12/944

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS