We used a sol–gel spin coating technique to synthesize nanocomposite thin films based on zinc oxide (ZnO) loaded with silver nanoparticles (NPs). We tested these ZnO/Ag NPs photocatalysts, with a thickness of about 100 nm, for the photodegradation of the indigo carmine dye solution. The study focused on the effects of Ag NPs on the ZnO matrix as well as the impact of their concentration on the photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposite. The study also highlighted the high stability of the photocatalytic performance of these nanocomposites. This work is a contribution in the search for non-toxic thin film photocatalysts that is usable under solar radiation for the treatment of contaminated wastewater. Innovation in the field of heterogeneous photocatalysis requires the use of solar resource with efficient results in terms of photocatalytic performance.

Ellipsometry is a highly sensitive and powerful optical technique of thin film characterization. However, the indirect and nonlinear character of the ellipsometric equations requires numerical extraction of interesting information, such as thicknesses and optical constants of unknown layers. A method is described to perform the inversion of ellipsometric spectra for the simultaneous determination of thickness and optical constants without requiring particular assumptions about the shape of a model dielectric function like in the traditional method of data fitting. The method is based on a Kramers–Kronig consistent description of the imaginary part of the dielectric function using a set of points joined by pieces of third-degree polynomials. Particular connection relations constrain the shape of the constructed curve to a physically meaningful curve avoiding oscillations of natural cubic splines. The connection ordinates conditioning the shape of the dielectric function can be used, together with unknown thickness or roughness, as fitting parameters with no restriction on the material nature. Typical examples are presented concerning metal and semiconductors.

The coloration mechanism of tungsten trioxide (${\mathrm{WO}}_3$) upon insertion of alkali ions is still under debate after several decades of research. This Letter provides new insights into the reversible insertion and coloration mechanisms of ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}$ ions in ${\mathrm{WO}}_3$ thin films sputter-deposited on ITO/glass substrates. A unique model based on a constrained spline approach was developed and applied to draw out ${\epsilon }_1+i{\epsilon }_2$from spectroscopic ellipsometry data from 0.6 to 4.8 eV, whatever the state of the electrochromic active layer, i.e., as-deposited, colored, or bleached. It is shown that electrochemically intercalated sodium-tungsten trioxide, ${\mathrm{Na}}_x{\mathrm{WO}}_3(x=0.1,0.2,0.35)$, exhibits an absorption band centered at ca. 1.14 eV in ${\epsilon }_2$ governing the coloration mechanism.

We used sol-gel and spin-coating in the original configuration of a liquid deposition process to synthesize particularly thin ZnO films (<100 nm) with nano-granular morphology, high grain orientation and variable optical properties. The concentration of the zinc salt, the concentration of the chelating agent, the nature of the solvent and the substrate material have been identified as key parameters that determine the microstructure of the deposited layer and thus its final properties. The thorough and practical examination of the effects of the synthesis parameters evidenced a three-step growth mechanism for these ZnO thin films: (i) a reaction of precursors, (ii) a formation of nuclei, and (iii) a coalescence of nanoparticles under thermal annealing. The growth of these very thin films is thus conditioned by the interaction between the liquid phase and the substrate especially during the initial steps of the spin coating process. Such thin ZnO films with such nano-granular morphology may be of great interest in various applications, especially those requiring a large active surface area.