Assess the performance of microstructural, optical and electrical properties of dual porous silicon decorated by ZrO2/Al2O3 nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •Dual porous Silicon (dpSi) substrates were prepared by the habitual anodization technique.•Effect of Al2O3 coated porous ZrO2 on the dpSi thin films properties is investigated.•Al2O3 NPs by reactive magnetron sputtering with various alumina concentrations: 3.5, 7, 11 and 19% in NCs dpSi/ZrO2.•The optical constants (n and k as a function of wavelength) of the pSi/ZrO2/Al2O3 were obtained using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in the UV–vis–NIR regions.•The electrical conductivity, conduction mechanism, relaxation model of the pSi/ZrO2/Al2O3 samples were studied by means of the impedance spectroscopy technique at various temperatures (340–410 °C).•A novel dpSi/ZrO2/Al2O3 NCs suitable for a wide range of application such as fuel cells, electronic component and oxygen sensing. Dual porous Silicon (dpSi) substrates were prepared by the habitual anodization technique. Afterwards, a first film of ZrO2 nanoparticles (NP)s was deposited by chemical vapor deposition then a second film of Al2O3 NPs by reactive magnetron sputtering with various alumina concentrations: 3.5, 7, 11 and 19% at a fixed deposition temperature of 660 °C In this work, we report a thorough study dealing with the effect of alumina NPs on morpho-structural, optical and electrical properties of the NCs. A correlation between these properties has been exposed based on results obtained from various characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscope, energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometry and impedance analyzer techniques. The modulus impedance and conductivity data of the processed NCs were performed in a frequency and temperature ranges from 100 to 13 MHz and from 190 to 370 °C, respectively. We have shown that the employed processing techniques were quite simple to design and produce a novel dpSi/ZrO2/Al2O3 NCs suitable for a wide range of application such as fuel cells, electronic component and oxygen sensing.