Structural and Optical Properties of Carbon–Palladium Nanocomposite Films Synthesized by Ion Sputtering

Abstract

Carbon–palladium nanocomposite films of thickness ~140 nm with a palladium nanoparticle size up to 2 nm were synthesized by ion sputtering of composite targets. The optical properties of carbon–palladium composite films were studied in the visible spectrum region. The optical absorption of these nanocomposite films was described by the characteristic Tauc dependence. In this case, the presence of palladium nanoparticles leads to a sharp decrease in the optical gap in composite films, which is explained by an increase in the average size of graphene nanoclusters in the carbon matrix.