Enhancing the Visible Light Transparence Thin Films via Doping of ATO with Cerium

The Ce doped ATO(Sb doped SnO2) transparent nano films were successfully prepared by using sol-gel combined with dip-coating methods onto glass substrates. The structures and properties of Ce/ATO films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM),ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis)and Fluorescence spectra(FL). The results show that a tetragonal rutile structure is retained by Ce/ATO films, and Ce is successfully doped into ATO films. The surface of the films is smooth, and the crystal grains are well distributed in the films and the grain size is in the range of 8-12 nm. Compared with ATO films, the average transmittance of Ce/ATO films has an obviously increasing trend in the visible region. In the range of 440 nm-680 nm, the transmittance is even higher than that of blank glass when the concentration of Ce doped is more than 1 mol% .With the increasing concentration of Ce to 3 mol%, the average transmittance is above 92% in the range of 440 nm-600 nm.