Structural and morphological data of RF-Sputtered BiVO₄ thin films

Abstract

Structural and morphological modulation of rf-sputtered BiVO₄ thin films deposited using mechanochemical synthesis prepared BiVO₄ nano-powders as sintered target are included in this data article. The crystalline nature of as-prepared films, namely amorphous and crystalline was acquired with time and temperature dependent in-situ high temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD), at a time interval of 1 h. Typical Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra of annealed thin film of monoclinic BiVO₄ structure is given. Furthermore, correlation between morphologies of various substrate temperature fabricated BiVO₄ thin films are presented.

Specifications Table

Subject area	Physics, Material science, Chemistry, Physical chemistry
More specific subject area	Materials physics, photocatalysis.
Type of data	Graphs (HT-XRD and FT-IR) and images (FE-SEM).
How data was acquired	PANalytical X-ray diffractometer (HT-XRD), Nicolet (Thermo scientific) 510 FT-IR spectrometer, Carl Zeiss Auriga FE-SEM.
Data format	Analyzed.
Experimental factors	In-situ HT-XRD investigations under air atmosphere at variable temperatures.
Experimental features	Formation of visible light active monoclinic phase of BiVO4is realized.
	Variations with substrate temperature show the notable changes in surface morphology.
Data source location	Universite du Maine, Le Mans, France. Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico D.F.
Data accessibility	The data are provided with this article.

Value of the data

• ●Combination methods (mechanochemical and rf-sputtering) can be used to for thin film preparations.
• ●Similar experimental parameters were adopted to prepare BiVO₄ thin films on silicon, borosilicate and glass substrate using rf-sputtering and HT-XRD data presented in Fig. S1 provide the formation of visible active narrow band gap (2.4 eV) monoclinic BiVO₄ structure on glass and silicon substrate.
• ●The FE-SEM images provide a useful point that by changing substrate temperature one can tune the morphology of BiVO₄ thin films for desired applications.
• ●The data is useful to design for structural and morphological dependent device application, including photocatalysis, photo-electrochemical, solar cell, transparent semiconductor fabrications.

1. Data

Pristine BiVO₄ was coated on silicon, borosilicate and glass substrates at various substrate temperature under inert (argon) atmosphere by rf-sputtering method with 50 W power onto a 3.3 cm BiVO₄ target diameter (mechanochemically prepared [1]). X-ray diffraction characterization was applied to clarify the crystalline nature of the as-deposited films. In-situ HT-XRD thermal treatment was applied to ensure the formation of monoclinic crystalline phase of BiVO₄. So, the data set used in this data in brief article contains the structural (HT-XRD and FT-IR) data of the room temperature sputtered BiVO₄ films along with morphological features of various substrate temperature deposited films. Furthermore, the data furnished here are based on the additional experimental observation reported in our recent paper [2]. Graph on the chemical composition, structural changes and characteristics of BiVO₄ thin films are presented in Fig. S1. HT-X-ray diffraction patterns indicates that the as-deposited films are amorphous in nature at room temperature. The order of the crystallinity increases from amorphous to monoclinic phases of BiVO₄ with increasing the heating temperature (from RT to 410 °C). Typical monoclinic crystalline nature of BiVO₄ are generated for thin film deposited on Si substrate at room temperature and annealed at 400 °C (Fig. S2). Fig. S3 provides the morphological comparison of room temperature deposited films on glass and silicon substrates. Also, images showing the effect of substrate temperature on surface morphology of BiVO₄ films deposited on Si substrate was gathered and depicted in Fig. S4.

2. Experimental design, materials, and methods

The crystalline structure of the as-deposited thin films was characterized by PANalytical X-ray diffractometer with Cu Kα radiation (λ = 0.15406 nm) equipped with the X’celerator detector and a HTK 1200 Anton Paar chamber. FT-IR measurements were performed by Nicolet 510 spectrometer. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was conducted using Carl Zeiss Auriga 60, nanotechnology system equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer at an accelerating voltage of 2 kV.

Transparency document. Supplementary material

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Appendix A. Supplementary material

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