title: Electrical and structural characterization of plasma polymerized polyaniline/TiO2 heterostructure diode: a comparative study of single and bilayer TiO2 thin film electrode.
abstract: A heterostructure was fabricated using p-type plasma polymerized polyaniline (PANI) and n-type (single and bilayer) titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film on FTO glass. The deposition of single and bilayer TiO2 thin film on FTO substrate was achieved through doctor blade followed by dip coating technique before subjected to plasma enhanced polymerization. To fabricate p-n heterostructure, a plasma polymerization of aniline was conducted using RF plasma at 13.5 MHz and at the power of 120 W on the single and bilayer TiO2 thin film electrodes. The morphological, optical and the structural characterizations revealed the formation of p-n heterostructures between PANI and TiO2 thin film. The PANI/bilayer TiO2 heterostructure showed the improved current-voltage (I-V) characteristics due to the substantial deposition of PANI molecules into the bilayer TiO2 thin film which provided good conducting pathway and reduced the degree of excitons recombination. The change of linear I-V behavior of PANI/TiO2 heterostructure to non linear behavior with top Pt contact layer confirmed the formation of Schottky contact at the interfaces of Pt layer and PANI/TiO2 thin film layers.
authors.affiliation: Energy Materials and Surface Science Laboratory, Solar Energy Research Center School of Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ameen
authors.forename: M Shaheer
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.forename: Young Soon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kimi
authors.forename: O-Bong
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hyung-Shik
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D012666:Semiconductors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000814:Aniline Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D058626:Plasma Gases; C416807:polyaniline; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium