CdS thin films of varying thicknesses were deposited on cleaned glass substrates at room temperature by thermal evaporation technique in a vacuum of about 2 x 10 -5 torr. UV-VIS spectra of the films were studied using the optical transmittance measurements which were taken in the spectral region from 300 nm to 1100 nm. The absorbance and reflectance spectra of the films in the UV-VIS region were also studied. Optical constants such as optical band gap, extinction coefficient, refractive index, optical conductivity and complex dielectric constant were evaluated from these spectra. All the films were found to exhibit high transmittance (~ 60 -93 %), low absorbance and low reflectance in the visible/ near infrared region from ~ 500 nm to 1100 nm. The optical band gap energy was found to be in the range 2.28 -2.53 eV. All the films annealed at 300°C for 4 hours in vacuum (~ 10 -2 torr) showed a decrease in the optical transmittance with its absorption edge shifted towards the longer wavelength, leading to the result that the optical band gap decreases on annealing the films. Also, on annealing crystallinity of the films improves, resulting in decrease in the optical transmittance.

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ZnO thin films were prepared by spray pyrolytic decomposition of zinc acetate onto a glass substrate. These films were analyzed for the optical and electrical properties. Optical studies show that in these films the electronic transition is of the direct transition type. The optical energy gap for the films of different thicknesses is estimated to be in the range 2.98 -3.09 eV. Electrical studies indicate that the films exhibit thermally activated electronic conduction and the activation energies are found to be dependent on the film thickness. The complex impedance measurements were carried out over a wide range of frequencies at room temperature (300 K). All the impedance spectra contain only a single arc, but the arc has a non-zero intersection with the real axis in the high frequency region. Also, the arc has its centre lying below with the real axis which indicates the multirelaxation behavior of the films. P. P. Sahay et al.: Studies on spray deposited ZnO thin films

Thin films of zinc oxide (ZnO) were deposited on cleaned glass substrates by chemical spray pyrolysis technique using Zn(CH3COO)2 as precursor solution. Also, aluminium-doped thin films of ZnO were prepared by using AlCl3 as doping solution for aluminium. The dopant concentration [Al/Zn atomic percentage (at%)] was varied from 0 to 1.5 at% in thin films of ZnO prepared in different depositions. Structural characterization of the deposited films was performed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. It confirmed that all the films were of zinc oxide having polycrystalline nature and possessing typical hexagonal wurtzite structure with crystallite size varying between 100.7 and 268.6 nm. The films exhibited changes in relative intensities and crystallite size with changes in the doping concentration of Al. The electrical studies established that 1 at% of Aldoping was the optimum for enhancing electrical conduction in ZnO thin films and beyond that the distortion caused in the lattice lowered the conductivity. The films also exhibited distinct changes in their optical properties at different doping concentrations, including a blue shift and slight widening of bandgap with increasing Al dopant concentration.

In the present study, mehendi extract (Lawsonia inermis) was used for phytosynthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using 0.1 M Zn(NO 3 ) 2 as precursor under alkaline condition using NaOH with vigorous stirring for 2 h. ZnO NPs obtained were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and TEM that showed change in shape and size. Hexagonal particles were formed due to plant extract relative to the rod shaped particles in absence of plant extract. Further the antibacterial property of ZnO NP synthesized by green method was more effective than those synthesized in absence of plant extract. The antibacterial activity study of both the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles reveals that the nanoparticles synthesized using mehendi extract are more effective than the particle synthesized without mehendi extract. Thus, the use of leaf extract as capping agent would improve the antibacterial property of ZnO nanoparticle. However, bacteriocidal effect of these nanoparticles varies with respect to the organism tested.