Structural and Optical Properties of NiO-Doped WO₃ Thin Films Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition
نویسندگان
1 Department of Remote Sensing, College of Science, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, 10001, Iraq
2 Institute of Technology, Middle Technical University (MTU), Baghdad, 10001, Iraq
3 Institute of Technology, Middle Technical University (MTU), Baghdad, 10001, Iraq
4 Remote Sensing Unit, College of Science, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
5 Department of Medical Physics, College of Science, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, 10001, Iraq
doi
10.22075/ppam.2026.40444.1204چکیده
This study investigates the effect of NiO incorporation on the structural and optical properties of WO₃ thin films deposited on glass substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The NiO concentration is varied (0.2,0.4 and 0.6 wt.%) while maintaining identical deposition conditions to isolate its intrinsic influence. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the films indicates a monoclinic structure, with the shift in peaks suggesting lattice distortion due to higher amount of NiO Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra show that the W–O–W and Ni–O vibrational modes are in agreement with the successful incorporation of NiO in WO₃. Optical measurements show a significant drop in transmittance from 85.59% to 24.39% at 500 nm along with increased absorption in the visible region. The optical band gap diminishes from 3.30 eV to 3.00 eV with increasing NiO concentration, owing to defect-induced localized states and structural changes. The film containing 0.6 wt.% NiO possesses high structural disorder and multiphase characteristics leading to strong band gap narrowing and strong optical absorption. The results indicate that the regulated incorporation of NiO may provide a useful strategy for tuning the structural and optical behaviour of WO₃ thin films.
