Abstract
This work focuses on the effect of La-doping on the structure, morphological and optical properties of CuO nanostructured films prepared by spray pyrolysis technique for optoelectronic applications. Undoped and La-doped CuO nanostructured films were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. Bonds' vibrations and changes have been investigated using FT-IR transmittance measurements. The phase structure, crystallite size and dislocation density have been determined by the XRD measurements. The XRD analysis reveals the monoclinic phase structure of all prepared samples. The crystallite size of La-doped CuO nanostructures increases from 19.8 to 26.1 nm as La wt% is increased from 0 to 8 wt%. The surface morphology of the sample has been examined using a scanning electron microscope. The optical properties have been explored via a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. La-doped CuO nanostructured films show that the optical bandgap varies from 1.61 to 1.04 eV as La wt% is increased up to 8%. Optical bandgap tuning of CuO nanostructured films has been achieved via La-doping using the spray pyrolysis technique. Doping CuO with binary elements or more could be achieved to tune its physical properties via spray pyrolysis technique. The prepared La-doped CuO nanostructured films are recommended for optoelectronic applications.