Open AccessEffect of pH on structural, optical, and morphological properties of ED-CdTe film
Author(s) -
Lekha Verma,
Ayush Khare
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/1120/1/012019
Subject(s) - cadmium telluride photovoltaics , scanning electron microscope , materials science , band gap , analytical chemistry (journal) , thin film , chemical bath deposition , electrolyte , cadmium acetate , layer (electronics) , direct and indirect band gaps , absorption spectroscopy , cadmium , chemistry , optics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , electrode , physics , chromatography , metallurgy , composite material
Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin films have been deposited by electrodeposition (ED) technique on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates using an aqueous electrolyte bath solution. The pH-value of the electrolyte solution is one of the most important deposition parameter that should be optimized to achieve high quality photoconductive material. The films have been deposited at different pH values ranging from 1.5 to 3. The structural, optical, and morphological properties of the samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV– Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, spectroflurophotometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) techniques respectively. The XRD analysis shows that the ED-CdTe films possess the cubic crystalline structure and the diffraction peak intensity increased significantly after changing the pH values. The direct energy band-gap (E g =1.44eV) is obtained in optical absorption spectra. The SEM analysis shows very good morphological growth by changing the pH values and the film deposited with lower pH showed more intense PL emission peaks as compared to the other two films. CdTe film deposited at pH 1.5 will be better choice as an absorber layer of a CdTe/CdS solar cell.