Investigation of microstructure and optical characteristics of Ti-doped ZnO thin films as an effective solar collector in photovoltaic solar cell applications using digitally controlled spray pyrolysis

Renewable energy, especially solar energy is a viable solution to the lack of electricity. In recent times, it has become necessary to replace solar cells with organic and inorganic metal oxides with significant band gaps to enhance their properties. This study utilizes a designed digitally controlled spray pyrolysis technique at a steady temperature of 350 °C to deposit undoped ZnO and Ti-doped ZnO films on pre-heated ultrasonically cleaned soda lime glass substrates. The films exhibit a single-phase hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure, according to the X-ray diffractometer analysis. The UV–visible Spectrophotometry results demonstrate that Ti-doped ZnO exhibits high transparency in the range of 71–91% and a direct band gap ranging from 3.24 to 3.10 eV. The results indicate that at 6%, Ti-doped ZnO has the potential to be used as a buffer material and window layer in thin-film solar cells.