Modulation of photoluminescence and optical limiting properties of spray-coated tin oxide thin film through Eu doping

Abstract

Abstract This work reports the effect of Eu doping on the structural, morphological, linear, and nonlinear optical properties of Sn 1− x Eu x O 2 ( x = 0 to 0.10) thin films prepared using spray pyrolysis. The films crystallized in tetragonal structure and the crystallite size reduced due to Eu incorporation. The film morphology consisted of evenly distributed dense grains with trapezohedron or bipyramidal shape. The Eu doping reduced the transmittance and energy band gap of the deposited films. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra comprised the contributions from both the transitions related to the Eu 3+ ions and the defects, such as oxygen vacancies and tin interstitials in the host lattice. The films also showed a near white light emission due to the different defect-related PL emissions. The Z-scan technique revealed the third-order optical nonlinearity shown by the films. Amongst the doped films, Sn 0.92 Eu 0.08 O 2 films exhibited least optical limiting threshold. Graphical abstract