Bhachu, D; (2013) The synthesis and characterisation of metal oxide thin films. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis details the use of chemical vapour deposition to deposit transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films for potential use in a wide range of applications ranging from electrodes in photovoltaic devices to low-ε-coatings in architectural glazing. TCO materials exhibit optical transparency along with electrical conductivity. The nature of electrical conductivity arises from either excess electrons in the conduction band or holes in the valence band. FTO thin films were deposited by use of an aerosol delivery system from methanolic solutions of monobutyltin trichloride. The deposition temperature was varied from 350-550 °C. The as-synthesised films displayed enhanced functional properties compared to commercial standards in terms of film microstructure i.e. pyramidal particle microstructure ideal for enhanced light scattering required for amorphous based silicon solar cells and also sheet resistances comparable to commercial standards. The natural progression from tin dioxide films was to explore zinc oxide thin films with respect to their opto-electronic properties. Highly conductive and transparent ZnO films were synthesized by the reaction of diethyl zinc (in toluene) with methanol by dual source aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition. The scope of this thesis then moves away from TCO materials and concentrates on microporous oxide films produced by combining chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and hydrothermal methods. Dense, adhesive zeolitic films were synthesised from this method by using a CVD process to deposit a dense amorphous silica or titanium doped silica which was then converted to a crystalline nanoporous zeolite by a hydrothermal process using an organic structure directing agent. To demonstrate the capability of the method, silicalite (S-1) and titanium silicalite (TS-1) zeolites were prepared. In order to assess the generality of this method metal organic framework films were also synthesised by reacting zinc oxide films, deposited by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), with the appropriate linker in a conventional solvothermal process.

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