Investigation of structural, optical and optoelectronic properties of eumelanin pigment

Abstract In this work, the structural, morphological and optical properties of the eumelanin film fabricated on an FTO substrate were first investigated. Then, the effects of illumination intensitiy on the optoelectronic properties of the device fabricated on p-Si substrate (Eumelanin/p-Si) were investigated. The deposited film was identified as polycrystalline from the XRD pattern. The crystallite size was found to be approximately 13 nm. Surface morphology analysis of the film was carried out using atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. The surface roughness value (Rq) of the film was determined to be 55.7 nm. The film’s transmittance in the visible region is approximately 83%. The average refractive index in the visible region was calculated to be 1.39. The $$\:{E}_g$$ value of the eumelanin film was determined using both the Tauc technique and the Kubelka-Munk function. The direct and indirect optical bandgaps of eumelanin were calculated using both the Tauc method and the Kubelka-Munk function. The calculated direct and indirect optical bandgap values are, respectively, 2.79 eV and 1.96 eV for the Tauc method, and 2.65 eV and 1.79 eV for the Kubelka-Munk method. The electronic parameters of Eumelanin/p-Si heterostructure were derived from its $$\:I-V$$ characteristics. The charge transport mechanisms controlling the diode behavior of the eumelanin/p-Si structure were investigated and analyzed using the power law relationship $$\:I\propto\:{V}^m$$ . $$\:I-V$$ measurements performed at various illumination intensities indicated that the device exhibited photoconductive behavior. All the results obtained from this study demonstrate the potential of eumelanin/p-Si device to be used in photonic applications.