Production characterization and determination of optical properties of cobalt doped nickel oxide thin films for automotive glass application

In this study, the surfaces of ITO glasses were coated with different proportions of cobalt (Co) doped nickel oxide (NiO) thin films using sol-gel spin coating method. ITO glasses were first cut to the size of 15 * 15 mm. The cut glasses were cleaned with ethanol and methanol bath in an ultrasonic cleaner, respectively. Then, after rinsing with distilled water, it was dried with nitrogen gas. After the glasses were cleaned, they were coated with a spin coating device with pure and Co-doped NiO sol-gel solutions. The coatinsg was carried out at 1000 rpm for 30 seconds. After the coating process was finished, evaporation was carried out in a magnetic heater at 150 ° C for 15 minutes. These processes were applied separately for each layer and ITO glass surfaces were coated in 3 layers. The coated glass surfaces were annealed at 600 ° C for 2 hours. The structural properties of the coated surface layers of the obtained samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-rays (EDX). Optical properties were determined by ultraviolet spectrometry (UV-vis) method. As a result of the experimental studies, changes in the X-ray diffraction peaks were observed with the increase in the Co doping ratio, and no additional peaks were observed due to the Co dopant. Accordingly, it was concluded that the Co contribution was placed in accordance with the structure of NiO. As a result of the FE-SEM analysis, it was determined that the coating layers of all samples consist of nano-sized structures. According to the results of UV-vis spectrometer analysis, the absorption, reflection and transmittance values changed with the increase of the Co doping ratio.