Microstructure and local electrophysical properties of sol-gel derived (In2O3-10%SnO2)/V2O5 films

Abstract Sol-gel synthesis of thin In2O3-xSnO2 (x = 5–15 mol% SnO2) films and double-layer (In2O3-10%SnO2)/V2O5 nanostructures utilizing hydrolytically active metal alkoxoacetylacetonate complexes [M(C5H7O2)x(C4H9O)y] (M = In3+, Sn4+) and [VO(C5H7O2)2-z(C4H9O)z] as precursors was studied. Dependencies of mean coherent scattering regions (CSR) and particle size, specific resistance, work function, band gap and transmittance in visible region on tin dioxide contents in obtained In2O3-xSnO2 films were determined and attributed to changes in crystal lattice parameter and oxygen vacancies amount. For (In2O3-10%SnO2)/V2O5 bilayer thin film nanostructures, microstructural and local electrophysical properties were studied. It was shown that vanadium (V) oxide deposited on the surface of In2O3-10%SnO2 film constitutes a coating made of hemispherical clusters of about 180 nm diameter and mean height of 80 nm, with distance between clusters being roughly 100–500 nm and clusters themselves showing good conductivity.