Non-conventional porous 12CaO7Al2O3 transparent oxide semiconductor: a journey from foams to cubes

Abstract

In the current study easy method to synthesize C12A7 particles with cubic morphology was investigated for the application of Transparent Conducting Oxide layer in thinfilm solar cell. By self-combustion method with proper amount of urea addition, cubic and foamy structures of C12A7 were achieved at 950 {\deg}C and at 510 {\deg}C respectively. Pure C12A7 formation confirmed by P-XRD and growth mechanism of the cubes was also understood by SEM and FT-IR analysis. Further the band gap was measured 3.07 eV in case of 510 {\deg}C and 3.32 eV in case of 950 {\deg}C synthesized particles with the help of UV-Vis analysis. During PL single sharp peaks at 399 nm noticed which indicates less defective C12A7 at 950 {\deg}C, confirmed by XRD having more crystallinity and less strain. No trap state or radiative recombination observed in case of C12A7 synthesized at 950 {\deg}C sample. Conductivity from conductometry titration method was found to be 9.223 mS at 26.3 {\deg}C and 747.33 mS at 26.4 {\deg}C for 510 {\deg}C and 950 {\deg}C synthesized samples respectively.