Characteristics of Nanocrystallite-CdS Produced by Low-Cost Electrochemical Technique for Thin Film Photovoltaic Application: The Influence of Deposition Voltage

Electrochemical deposition and characterization of nanocrystallite-CdS thin films for thin film solar cell application are reported. The two-electrode system used provides a relatively simple and cost-effective approach for large-scale deposition of semiconductors for solar cell and other optoelectr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of photoenergy 2017-01, Vol.2017 (2017), p.1-13
Main Authors: Eze, Francis Chukwuemeka, Dharmadasa, I. M., Dejene, Francis Birhanu, Echendu, O. K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annealing
Cadmium sulfide
Cadmium telluride
Cementing
Crystallites
Deposition
Dislocation density
Electrical properties
Electrical resistivity
Electrochemical analysis
Electrodes
Electrolytes
Electron microscopy
Heat
Materials science
Morphology
Optical properties
Optoelectronic devices
Phase transitions
Photovoltaic cells
Physics
Screen printing
Semiconductors
Sulfur
Temperature
Thin films
Transistors
Transmittance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Electrochemical deposition and characterization of nanocrystallite-CdS thin films for thin film solar cell application are reported. The two-electrode system used provides a relatively simple and cost-effective approach for large-scale deposition of semiconductors for solar cell and other optoelectronic device application. Five CdS thin films were deposited for 45 minutes each at different cathodic deposition voltages in order to study their properties. X-ray diffraction study reveals that the as-deposited films contain mixed phases of hexagonal and cubic CdS crystallites with large amounts of internal strain and dislocation density. Postdeposition annealing results in phase transformation which leaves the films with only the hexagonal crystal phase and reduced strain and dislocation density while increasing the crystallite sizes from 21.0–42.0 nm to 31.2–63.0 nm. Photoelectrochemical cell study shows that all the CdS films have n-type electrical conductivity. Optical characterization reveals that all samples show similar transmittance and absorbance responses with the transmittance slightly increasing towards higher growth voltages. All the annealed films show energy bandgap of 2.42 eV. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analyses show that grains on the surface of the films tend to get cemented together after annealing with prior CdCl2 treatment while all the films are S-rich.
ISSN:1110-662X
1687-529X
DOI:10.1155/2017/3989432