Abstract
In this article, the impact of praseodymium (Pr) mainly on the optoelectronic properties of spray pyrolyzed NiO thin films is studied. NiO, NiO:Pr(1.0%), NiO:Pr(3.0%), and NiO:Pr(5.0%) thin films show polycrystalline nature with the cubic phase. Raman spectra display three vibrational modes centered at 565 cm(-1), 784 cm(-1), and 1094 cm(-1). These modes associated with Ni2+-O2--Ni2+ bonding, confirm the formation of NiO. The optical bandgap (E-g) of 3.51 eV observed for NiO film decreased to 3.40 eV for NiO:Pr(5.0%) film. The parameters determining sensing and detection properties of prepared photo-devices increase with increasing Pr-doping concentration in NiO host lattice, and the NiO:Pr(5.0%) photo-device exhibits a large responsivity, external quantum efficiency and detectivity of 0.043 AW(-1), 14. 07% and 3.36 x 10(9) Jones, respectively. These Pr-doped NiO films may be useful for photo-sensing and/or photo-detection applications in optoelectronic field.