Systematic optimization of chemical deposition conditions for synthesis of vanadium(V) oxide xerogels

Authors: AKSU SAMET, METODIJA NAJDOSKI, IGOR KUZMANOVSKI

Abstract: We performed the optimization of conditions in chemical bath deposition using the design of experimental methodology. Factorial design (2$^{3})$ was used for finding the optimal conditions of preparing vanadium(V) oxide xerogel thin films with better electrochromic properties suitable for electrochemical applications. The thin films were prepared by acidification of NH$_{4}$VO$_{3}$ aqueous solution with chemical bath deposition. The factors and selected values we considered were as follows: the deposition time (10 and 20 min), the deposition temperature (70 and 80 $^{\circ}$C), and the mass of ammonium metavanadate (0.3 and 0.5 g). UV-vis spectrometry was used for recording the transmittance variance, $\Delta T$, as the property of interest for modeling in this work. Increasing the deposition temperature and time values led to an increase in the value of $\Delta T $ at 800 nm wavelength, but the mass of NH$_{4}$VO$_{3}$ showed the opposite effect. Modeling performed using a 2$^{3}$ factorial design showed that the concentration of the ammonium metavanadate was the single most important factor.

Keywords: Optimization, factorial design, thin film, optical property, vanadium(V) oxide xerogel

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