Sol-gel technique is used to synthesize as-grown zinc oxide (ZnO) and iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) co-doped ZnO thin films deposited on glass substrates using dip coating technique. The structural properties and crystal imperfections of as-prepared thin films are investigated. We performed the structural analysis of films using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD analysis reveal that the as-prepared films exhibit wurtzite structure. Furthermore, XRD-line profile analysis is performed to study the correlation between structural properties and imperfections of the nanocomposite thin films. The crystallite size and microstrains parameters are predicted using the Williamson–Hall method. We found that the crystallites size increases as the co-doped (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased. However, microstrains of the nanocomposite films decreases as (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased. The optical properties of the (Fe-Ni) co-doped nanocomposite films are investigated by performing UV-Vis (250 nm–700 nm) spectrophotometer measurements. We found that as the (Fe-Ni) concentration level is steadily increased, transmittance of the undoped ZnO thin films is decreased. Remarkably, refractive index of undoped ZnO thin films is found to exhibit values extending from 1.55 to1.88 that would increase as (Fe-Ni) concentration is increased.

We report the synthesis and characterization of pure ZnO, pure CeO₂, and ZnO:CeO₂ mixed oxide thin films dip-coated on glass substrates using a sol-gel technique. The structural properties of as-prepared thin film are investigated using the XRD technique. In particular, pure ZnO thin film is found to exhibit a hexagonal structure, while pure CeO₂ thin film is found to exhibit a fluorite cubic structure. The diffraction patterns also show the formation of mixed oxide materials containing well-dispersed phases of semi-crystalline nature from both constituent oxides. Furthermore, optical properties of thin films are investigated by performing UV–Vis spectrophotometer measurements. In the visible region, transmittance of all investigated thin films attains values as high as 85%. Moreover, refractive index of pure ZnO film was found to exhibit values ranging between 1.57 and 1.85 while for CeO₂ thin film, it exhibits values ranging between 1.73 and 2.25 as the wavelength of incident light decreases from 700 nm to 400 nm. Remarkably, refractive index of ZnO:CeO₂ mixed oxide-thin films are tuned by controlling the concentration of CeO₂ properly. Mixed oxide-thin films of controllable refractive indices constitute an important class of smart functional materials. We have also investigated the optoelectronic and dispersion properties of ZnO:CeO₂ mixed oxide-thin films by employing well-established classical models. The melodramatic boost of optical and optoelectronic properties of ZnO:CeO₂ mixed oxide thin films establish a strong ground to modify these properties in a skillful manner enabling their use as key potential candidates for the fabrication of scaled optoelectronic devices and thin film transistors.