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Liquid‐Tin‐Assisted Molten Salt Electrodeposition of Photoresponsive n‐Type Silicon Films
Author(s) -
Peng Junjun,
Yin Huayi,
Zhao Ji,
Yang Xiao,
Bard Allen J.,
Sadoway Donald R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201703551
Subject(s) - materials science , molten salt , tin , silicon , wafer , nucleation , doping , chemical engineering , photocurrent , nanotechnology , metallurgy , optoelectronics , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Production of silicon film directly by electrodeposition from molten salt would have utility in the manufacturing of photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices owing to the simplicity of the process and the attendant low capital and operating costs. Here, dense and uniform polycrystalline silicon films (thickness up to 60 µm) are electrodeposited on graphite sheet substrates at 650 °C from molten KCl–KF‐1 mol% K 2 SiF 6 salt containing 0.020–0.035 wt% tin. The growth of such high‐quality tin‐doped silicon films is attributable to the mediation effect of tin in the molten salt electrolyte. A four‐step mechanism is proposed for the generation of the films: nucleation, island formation, island aggregation, and film formation. The electrodeposited tin‐doped silicon film exhibits n‐type semiconductor behavior. In liquid junction photoelectrochemical measurement, this material generates a photocurrent about 38–44% that of a commercial n‐type Si wafer.