Now showing 1 - 10 of 17
  • Publication
    Factors of Controlling the Formation of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Synthesized using Sol-gel Method - A Short Review
    ( 2022-01-24)
    Abdul Razak K.
    ;
    ; ; ;
    Mahmed N.
    ;
    Azani A.
    ;
    Chobpattana V.
    There have been experiments on TiO2 thin films synthesized utilizing sol-gel techniques. The sol-gel method is a straightforward technology that gives numerous benefits to the researcher, for instance, material's reliability, reproducibility, and controllability. Following from there, it can be utilized to make high-quality nano-structured thin films. According to previous studies, the TiO2 films' characteristics occur to be highly dependent on the production parameters and initial materials utilized. Controlling the formation of TiO2 thin films with the sol-gel method was momentarily discussed here.
      1  25
  • Publication
    Interdigitated electrodes as impedance and capacitance biosensors: A review
    Interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) are made of two individually addressable interdigitated comb-like electrode structures. IDEs are one of the most favored transducers, widely utilized in technological applications especially in the field of biological and chemical sensors due to their inexpensive, ease of fabrication process and high sensitivity. In order to detect and analyze a biochemical molecule or analyte, the impedance and capacitance signal need to be obtained. This paper investigates the working principle and influencer of the impedance and capacitance biosensors. The impedance biosensor depends on the resistance and capacitance while the capacitance biosensor influenced by the dielectric permittivity. However, the geometry and structures of the interdigitated electrodes affect both impedance and capacitance biosensor. The details have been discussed in this paper.
      35  3
  • Publication
    Effect of polyethylene glycol and sodium dodecyl sulphate on microstructure and self-cleaning properties of graphene oxide/TiO2 thin film
    In this study, a sol gel procedure for preparation of TiO2 thin films with graphene oxide (GO) was developed. The effect of PEG and SDS addition on the microstructure of the films as well as the photocatalytic activity of the thin film was also investigated. The morphology and surface structure of the films were studied by SEM and AFM while the photocatalytic activity of the films was analyzed by measuring the degradation of methylene blue under sunlight irradiation using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. It was found that GO/TiO2 thin film with PEG shows a smaller and porous particle while GO/TiO2 thin film with SDS formed a very smooth surface and very fine particles. Therefore, in AFM analysis reveals that surface roughness decreases with the addition of PEG and SDS. Finally, the photocatalytic activity showed that GO/TiO2 thin film with SDS have the most effective self-cleaning property which degrade 64% of methylene blue that act as model of contaminants.
      1
  • Publication
    Microstructural studies of ag/tio2 thin film; effect of annealing temperature
    ( 2022-01-01)
    Kamrosni A.R.
    ;
    ;
    Azliza A.
    ;
    ; ; ;
    Chobpattana V.
    ;
    Kaczmarek L.
    ;
    Jez B.
    ;
    Nabialek M.
    Microstructures are an important link between materials processing and performance, and microstructure control is essential for any materials processing route where the microstructure plays a major role in determining the properties. In this work, silverdoped titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2) thin film was prepared by the sol-gel method through the hydrolysis of titanium tetra-isopropoxide and silver nitrate solution. The sol was spin coated on ITO glass substrate to get uniform film followed by annealing process for 2 hours. The obtained films were annealed at different annealing temperatures in the range of 300°C-600°C in order to observe the effect on crystalline state, microstructures and optical properties of Ag/TiO2thin film. The thin films were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. It is clearly seen, when the annealing temperature increases to 500°C, a peak at 2θ = 25.30° can be seen which refers to the structure of TiO2tetragonal anatase. The structure of Ag/TiO2thin film become denser, linked together, porous and uniformly distributed on the surface and displays the highest cut-off wavelength value which is 396 nm with the lowest band gap value, which is 3.10 eV.
      1
  • Publication
    Annealing Effects on Polycrystalline Silicon Germanium (SiGe) Thin Films grown on Nanostructured Silicon Substrates using Thermal Evaporation Technique
    ( 2022-10-01) ;
    Eop T.S.
    ;
    ;
    Sopian K.
    ;
    ;
    Zaidi S.H.
    Polycrystalline SiGe thin films have been formed after thermal annealing of formerly vacuum evaporated a-Ge layers. The a-Ge thin films were deposited onto nanostructured Si substrates via low-cost thermal evaporation method. Then, the films were annealed in a furnace at temperatures ranging from 400 °C to 1000 °C resulting in crystal growth of the SiGe layers. In general, the annealing temperature for polycrystalline SiGe is between 600 °C – 800 °C. The crystalline structure of the SiGe layer is improved as a function of increased temperature. This is shown by the low FWHM of about 5.27 as compared to the commercially available Ge substrates where the FWHM value is about 5.06. This method also produces more relax Ge layer where the strain value is 0.261.
      30  2
  • Publication
    Magnetic-Based Coreshell Nanoparticles as Potential Adsorbents for the Removal of Cu2+ under Ultraviolet (UV) Light
    The magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (gFe2O3) nanoparticles, magnetite-silica-silver chloride (Fe3O4-SiO2-AgCl) and maghemite-silica-silver chloride (gFe2O3-SiO2-AgCl) coreshell structures have successfully been synthesized by using a simple wet chemistry method. The efficiency of these particles as the adsorbents for the removal of copper ion, Cu2+ in aqueous solution under UV light was investigated. Two different parameters were studied, namely the adsorbents contact time (60, 120, 180, 240 and 300s) and the solution-stirring rate (100, 200 and 300 rpm). From the results, the removal percentage of the copper ions from the solution were above 90% after 5 hours of adsorption process at 300 rpm by using Fe3O4 (94%) and gFe2O3 (92%) nanoparticles. The maximum removal of copper ions was nearly 100% when gFe2O3-SiO2-AgCl & Fe3O4-SiO2-AgCl coreshell particles were used. The samples that were prepared without magnetic core such as AgCl-SiO2, AgCl and SiO2 particles, showed lower percentage of the copper ions removal (78%, 60% and 20%, respectively). This situation shows that the magnetic nanoparticles plays and important role during the adsorption process due to their large active sites for the adsorption to occur.
      2
  • Publication
    Effect of graphene oxide on microstructure and optical properties of TiO2 thin film
    ( 2019-01-01)
    Azani A.
    ;
    ;
    Razak K.A.
    ;
    ;
    Mohd Salleh M.A.A.
    ;
    Abdul Razak M.F.S.
    ;
    ;
    Ramli M.M.
    ;
    ;
    Chobpattana V.
    GO/TiO2 thin films have been synthesized from titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) by a sol-gel method. The films were deposited onto a glass substrate using spin coating deposition technique then were subjected to annealed process at 350 °C. The different amount of graphene oxide (GO) was added into the parent solution of sol in order to investigate the microstructure, topography, optical band gap and photocatalytic activity of the thin films. The prepared thin films were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-VIS spectrophotometry and degradation of methylene blue (MB). AFM images reveal a rougher surface of GO/TiO2 thin film than bare TiO2 thin film due to GO particles. Moreover, the SEM images showed the formation of semispherical microstructure of bare TiO2 changes to some larger combined molecules with GO addition. The UV-Vis spectrophotometer results show that with optical direct energy gap decreases from 3.30 to 3.18 eV after GO addition due to the effect of high surface roughness and bigger grain size. Furthermore, the optical results also indicated that GO improved the optical properties of TiO2 in the visible range region.
      1  29
  • Publication
    Progress in tin-germanium perovskite solar cells: A review
    ( 2023-11-01)
    Azizman M.S.A.
    ;
    ; ;
    Ibrahim N.
    ;
    Sepeai S.
    ;
    Ludin N.A.
    ;
    Nor M.N.M.
    ;
    Ho L.N.
    The primary cause for concern in developing perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is the potential environmental repercussions of employing lead (Pb) as the absorber. The majority of studies hypothesised that the use of tin-based perovskite could be the key to creating environmentally and financially viable PSCs. This is because tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) are both elements in group 14 of the periodic table. Perovskite materials based on tin and lead also have nearly ideal direct band gaps, which range from 1.23 eV to 1.30 eV. Nonetheless, major challenges that may suppress the potential of Sn-based PSCs include the stability issue with low formation energy, high carrier density, and easily oxidised from Sn2+ to Sn4+ upon exposure to air. These limitations are anticipated to be vital impediments to creating a stable and effective Sn-based perovskite. Recent advances have shown that alloying with germanium (Ge) is one of the approaches to overcome stability issues and thus improve the overall efficiency of the PSCs. However, the stability and efficiency of these Ge-based PSCs are still unable to surpass those of Pb-based devices. This review covers the research interest in SnGe PSCs from the initial study to the current year by focusing on the methodology used and significant results. The output is believed to be useful in developing Pb-free PSCs using SnGe-based materials.
      2  2
  • Publication
    Synthesis of Ag-TiO2thin film - Molarity and temperature effect on Microstructure
    ( 2020-08-01) ;
    Razak K.A.
    ;
    Azani A.
    ;
    ; ;
    Mahmed N.
    ;
    Ramli M.M.
    ;
    ;
    Chobpattana V.
    ;
    Kaczmarek
    Ag-TiO2thin films with different concentration of silver (Ag) added were successfully deposited onto Si-substrate via sol-gel spin coating method. The phase analysis and microstructures of Ag-TiO2thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope. X-ray diffraction spectra show existing different phases influenced by the concentration of the Ag and the annealing temperature. The micrograph of scanning electron microscopy revealed the thin films annealed at 600 °C with 7 mol% of Ag concentration which shows that the Ag particles were found like a white dot formed on the grain of TiO2thin films.
      8  23
  • Publication
    Synthesis of Zn/TiO2 Thin Films for Self-Cleaning Applications
    ( 2022-07-01) ;
    Abidin A.S.Z.
    ;
    Azani A.
    ;
    ; ; ; ;
    Sandu A.V.
    ;
    Vizureanu P.
    ;
    Kaczmarek L.
    ;
    Garus S.
    ;
    Garus J.
    Titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film has been widely used in semiconductor applications. The surface modification on TiO2 has been done by adding zinc (Zn) in order to improve surface wettability and enhance the photocatalysis efficiency for solar cell applications. Self-cleaning technology is very important to sustain the efficiency of the solar cell and reduce the cost of the maintenance of the solar cell. In this work, the sol–gel method was used due to the economic factor and its best efficiency. The sol–gel method is a wet chemical technique involving several steps, such as hydrolysis and polycondensation, gelation, aging, drying, densification, and crystallization. The X-Ray diffraction pattern shows that anatase and rutile phases were detected at 2θ = 36.3864◦. It was clearly seen at 4% Zn-doped TiO2 annealed at 400◦C that due to the increment of Zn concentration, the phase transformed from the anatase phase to the rutile phase at high temperature. The scanning electron microscope micrograph shows that Zn concentration affects grain size. The water contact angle produced when 4% Zn-doped TiO2 was annealed at 300◦C, was 18◦ — higher than in the sample of 4% Zn-doped TiO2 annealed at 400◦C. These results clearly showed that the dopant concentration and the annealing temperature influence the properties of TiO2 for a self-cleaning application.
      2