Effect of annealing temperature on PbO thin films deposited by chemical bath deposition

In the current study, PbO thin films were produced using the economical chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique. To determine the impact of annealing temperature, PbO thin films were calcined at 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C. Different characterization techniques were used to assess the properties of PbO thin films. The XRD result demonstrates that both the α- and β-PbO phases are present in the deposited PbO films. The average crystallite size of the as-deposited PbO films was 36.50 nm. The average crystallite size for PbO films annealed at 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C was 38.26, 48.48, and 51.34 nm, respectively. According to the UV–Vis result, the PbO film's energy band gap was 3.44 eV, 2.80 eV, 2.61 eV, and 2.24 eV for as-deposited, 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C, respectively. PbO thin films annealed at 200 °C and 300 °C showed a prominent green band emission at 523 nm, according to photoluminescence spectroscopy. Nevertheless, it exhibits a red shift of 524 nm for as-deposited and annealed at 200 °C. The SEM analysis demonstrated the irregular and nanorod morphological distributions of particles on the surface of the substrates. The purity of the produced PbO thin films as well as the presence of Pb and O in their composition was verified by EDX. Based on the obtained characterizations results, the produced PbO thin films can be used in solar cells and for photocatalysis.