Synthesis and study of the effect of Cu doping on the physical properties of NiO/PMMA thin films by spin coating sol-gel technique.

This work shows the effect of Cu doping (1,2,3 w%) on the structure, optical properties, and surface morphology of NiO/PMMA films. The films were prepared by using the sol-gel spin coating method at a molarity of a solution of 0.5 M. The properties of obtained films were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) for structural properties scan electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for morphology surface and optical spectra analysis. The result of XRD showed the prepared films were multi-crystalline with cubic phase and peak relation (200). The result of the morphology surface showed the films were homogeneous and the average particle size was (95,76, to 55.66) nm with increased Cu doping. Also, the optical spectra of prepared films showed the films have high transparency and the band energy decreased from 3.22 eV to 3.08 eV with the increase of Cu doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]