Development of Electrically Conductive Nanocrystalline Thin Film for Optoelectronic Applications

Sodium alginate (TiO2) sand composites were prepared by solution casting. Purified sand was added in the composite films to increase electrical conductivity. Electrical properties such as conductivity, capacitance, dielectric constant, and loss tangent of the composites were investigated. The current voltage characteristics for all the composites showed ohmic behavior. All the electrical properties have been found to improve with the incorporation of sand (SiO2) but 6 % sand containing composite exhibits the best electrical properties. The mechanical properties tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (Eb) and Young modulus for 6 % sand containing composite film are found to be 4.445 MPa, 9.76 %, and 72.8 MPa respectively. The experimental results reveal that the blended films exhibit higher stability and improved mechanical properties of both tensile strength and elongation at break in dry state. Water absorption properties of the composites are found to decrease with the increase of sand content. Lowest water uptake properties and highest stability were demonstrated by 6 % sand containing sample. Electrically conductive composite films have useful applications for solar cells and optoelectronics. Thus, this study is very much expected to aid in the design and selection of proper composite for the potential application of solar cell and optoelectronics.