Structural analysis, FTIR study and optical characteristics of graphene doped Bi2O3 thin film prepared by modified sol–gel technique

Abstract

Bismuth oxide(Bi2O3) and Graphene doped bismuth oxide thin films were synthesized using modified Sol-gel technique at a temperature about 180–220 °C in a cost effective procedure. In this experiment, self synthesized graphene was used as dopant. The effect of graphene doping on the microstructure and crystalline nature of bismuth oxide were studied after the samples had been subjected to XRD. The prepared graphene was found to be in hexagonal crystal structure and the bismuth oxide was monoclinic in structure. A increase in lattice parameters and decrease in crystallite size and an increase in microstrain and dislocation density was also resulted in this work for graphene doped bismuth oxide (Bi2O3). A detailed structure study from rietveld refinement was carried out in terms of atomic position of various partipating atom, their bond angles and lengths. Finally, a simulated structure was also generated for Bi2O3 and graphene doped Bi2O3. Obtained bandgap of doped Bi2O3 was low. Also the optical properties like refractive index, SELF, interband transition strength etc. were studied.

Keywords

• Graphene doped Bi2O3
• Rietveld refinement
• SELF
• Bandgap
• XRD