01880nas a2200181   4500008004100000024001200041245011100053210006900164260002800233520122800261653002701489653002301516653002101539653001901560100001901579700002101598856007901619       1995                        eng d  aUC-160000aStructural and Optical Properties of Sol-Gel Deposited Proton Conducting Ta<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> Films0 aStructural and Optical Properties of SolGel Deposited Proton Con  aFaro, Portugalc09/19953 a<p>Proton conducting tantalum oxide films were deposited by spin coating using a sol-gel process. The coating solutions were prepared using Ta(OC<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>5</sub> as a precursor. X-ray diffraction studies determined that the sol-gel films, heat treated at temperatures below 400 °C, were amorphous. Films heat treated at higher temperatures were crystalline Ta<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>. The solar transmission values (Ts) of tantala films on glass generally range from 0.8-0.9 depending on thickness. The refractive index and the extinction coefficient were evaluated from transmittance characteristics in the UV-VIS-NIR regions. The refractive index values calculated at λ=550 nm increased from n=1.78 to 1.97 with increasing heat treatment from 150 to 450 °C. The films heat treated at different temperatures showed low absorption with extinction coefficients of less than k=1 x 10<sup>-3</sup> in the visible range. Spectrophotometric and impedance spectroscopic investigations performed on Ta<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> films revealed that these films have protonic conductivity of 3.2 x 10<sup>-6</sup> S/cm. The films are suitable for proton conducting layers in electrochromic (EC) devices.</p>10aelectrochromic devices10aoptical proterties10aproton conductor10atantalum oxide1 aÖzer, Nilgün1 aLampert, Carl, M  uhttps://facades.lbl.gov/publications/structural-and-optical-properties-sol