Structural and optical properties of sol-gel deposited proton conducting Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} films

Abstract

Proton conducting tantalum oxide films were deposited by spin coating using a sol-gel process. The coating solutions were prepared using Ta(OC{sub 2}H{sub 5}){sub 5} as a precursor. X-ray diffraction studies determined that the sol-gel films, heat treated at temperatures below 400 C, were amorphous. Films heat treated at higher temperatures were crystalline Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5}. The solar transmission values (T{sub s}) of tantala films on glass generally range from 0.8--0.9 depending on thickness. The refractive index and the extinction coefficient were evaluated from transmittance characteristics in the UV-VIS-NIR regions. The refractive index values calculated at 550 nm increased from 1.78 to 1.97 with increasing heat treatment from 150 to 450 C. The films heat treated at different temperatures showed low absorption with extinction coefficients of less than k=1x10{sup -3} in the visible range. Spectrophotometric and impedance spectroscopic investigations performed on Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5} films revealed that these films have protonic conductivity of 3.2x10{sup -6} S/cm. The films are suitable for proton conducting layers in electrochromic (EC) devices