Morphological evolution of CdS films prepared by chemical bath deposition

In this article, the growth process of chemical bath deposited CdS films was systematically investigated. The structural, optical, and morphological properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscope （TEM）, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope （SEM）, respectively. CdS nanocubes with size of less than 500 nm and nanocrystal-lites with diameter of less than 5 nm forming in reaction solution are observed. According to the TEM results and the SEM morphological evolution of CdS films, a crystal-lite-by-crystallite growth mechanism is proposed to eluci-date the growth process of chemical bath deposited CdS films based on the present growth mechanism.

Structural,Morphological and Optical Properties of Well-Ordered CdO Nanostructures Synthesized by Easy-Economical Chemical Bath Deposition Technique

In this Study,Cadmium Oxide(CdO)nanostructures were synthesized by using Chemical Bath Deposition Technique.The synthesized process was carried out at room temperature.The structural and optical properties of nanostructures was characterized by XRD,SEM and UV-Vis techniques.As a result,the CdO nanostructures are oriented along(111)plane of cubic crystal structure.The morphology of CdO nanostructures showed interconnected prism-like and cauliflower-type cluster nanostructure.The UV results of this structures with high absorbtion coefficient are observed to be in accordance with the CdO nanoparticles.

Super-hydrophobic and Self-cleaning PVDF Film Fabricated by Chemical Bath Deposition

Self-cleaning surfaces have received a great deal of attention recently,both in theoretical studies and commercial applications.The self-cleaning surface of lotus leaf is hydrophobic and rough,showing a micro-and nano-scale morphology.The micro-reliefs of lotus leaf were mimicked using polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)film and nano-scale peaks on the top of the micro-reliefs were implemented by the reaction between methyltrichlorosilane and the reactive groups of PVDF film treated by oxygen plasma.A lotus-leaf-like surface of the PVDF film was clearly observed by scanning electronic microscopy(SEM)and atomic force microscope(AFM).Elemental composition analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)revealed that the material of the nanostructure of PVDF film was polymethylsiloxane.The superhydrophobic property of the mimicked self-cleaning surface was validated by the water contact angle and sliding angle on the lotus-leaf-like PVDF film,which were 156.6° and 4°,respectively.In this case,water droplets can easily move across the PVDF film surface,carrying dirt particles away,leaving no contamination.

In-situ monitored chemical bath deposition of planar NiO x layer for inverted perovskite solar cell with enhanced efficiency

As a convenient,low-cost and up-scalable solution route,chemical bath deposition(CBD)has exhibited impressive advantages in fabricating electron transporting materials like SnO_(2),achieving record efficien-cies for regular n-i-p perovskite solar cells(PSCs).However,for the hysteresis-free and potentially more stable inverted p-i-n PSCs,CBD processing is rarely studied to improve the device performance.In this work,we first present a CBD planar NiO x film as the efficient hole transport layer for the inverted per-ovskite solar cells(IPSCs).The morphologies and semiconducting properties of the NiO x film can be ad-justed by varying the concentration of[Ni(H 2 O)x(NH 3)6-x]2+cation via in-situ monitoring of the CBD re-action process.The characterizations of ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy,transient absorption spec-troscopy,time-resolved photoluminescence suggest that the CBD planar NiO x film possesses enhanced conductivity and aligned energy band levels with perovskite,which benefits for the charge transport in the IPSCs.The devices based on planar NiO x at 50°C and low nickel precursor concentration achieved an enhanced efficiency from 16.14%to 18.17%.This work established an efficient CBD route to fabricate planar NiO x film for PSCs and paved the way for high performance PSCs with CBD-prepared hole transporting materials.

SnS thin films deposited by chemical bath deposition, dip coating and SILAR techniques

The SnS thin films were synthesized by chemical bath deposition （CBD）, dip coating and successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction （SILAR） techniques. In them, the CBD thin films were deposited at two tem- peratures： ambient and 70℃. The energy dispersive analysis of X-rays （EDAX）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and optical spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize the thin films. The electrical transport properties studies on the as-deposited thin films were done by measuring the I-V characteristics, DC electrical resistivity variation with temperature and the room temperature Hall effect. The obtained results are deliberated in this paper.

Growth mechanism of CdS film prepared by chemical bath deposition

In this paper, sodium citrate was adopted as a complexing agent and ammonia merely served as pH adjustor to investigate the growth mechanism of CdS film The growth rate, structural properties, surface morphology microstructure, and optical properties of CdS films were studied by profilometer, X-ray diffractometer（XRD）scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission elec tron microscopy（TEM）, and spectrophotometer, respec tively. The SEM images show that CdS films prepared with higher ammonia concentration have lower nucleation density on substrate. SEM and EDS results show that the formation of Cd（OH）2is not required in the growth of CdS film. As the ammonia concentration increases, the sites tha previously adsorbed S2-are taken by OH-which leads to lower S2-density on substrate. CdS film forms through direct reaction of Cd2？with the S2-which are adsorbed on the substrate. Lower S2-density on the substrate results in the decrease of particle density on the substrate. The as deposited CdS films have relatively high-average trans mittance（＊80 %） in the wavelength range from 500 to1,000 nm which makes them suitable to be used in sola cell.

Top gate ZnO-Al2O3 thin film transistors fabricated using a chemical bath deposition technique

ZnO thin films were prepared by a simple chemical bath deposition technique using an inorganic solution mixture of ZnCl2 and NH3 on glass substrates and then were used as the active material in thin film transistors （TFTs）. The TFTs were fabricated in a top gate coplanar electrode structure with high-k Al203 as the gate insulator and AI as the source, drain and gate electrodes. The TFTs were annealed in air at 500℃ for 1 h. The TFTs with a 50μm channel length exhibited a high field-effect mobility of 0.45 cm2/（V.s） and a low threshold voltage of 1.8 V. The sub-threshold swing and drain current ON-OFF ratio were found to be 0.6 V/dec and 10 6, respectively.

Influence of In-doping on resistivity of chemical bath deposited SnS films

SnS and SnS：In films were deposited onto glass substrates by chemical bath technique. The structure and surface morphology of the SnS：In films were studied by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscope （SEM） respectively. Energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDS） showed the existence of In in the films. The undoped SnS film exhibited a rather high resistivity and InCl3 could reduce the resistivity of these films by two orders approximately. The band gaps of the SnS and SnS：In films were evaluated from the optical transmission spectra.

Peculiarities of ZnCdSe Nanolayers by Chemical Deposition

In this work, the results on the investigation of the precularity near the solar spectrum region, of Zn1.xCdxSe nanofilms, nanoscale heterojunction prepared on silikon and alumminium substrates by precipitation from aqueous solutions are presented. The temperature dependence of dark and light conductivity, spectrum and optical quenching of primary and impurity photoconductivity are investigated. The obtained results show that when controlling ionic composition and HT （heat-treatment） conditions, one can purposely control the properties of Zn1-xCdxSe （0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6） films, achieve the appropriate degree of compensation of different recombination levels and traps attributed to intrinsic defects or impurities, which result in high level of photoelectrical parameters near the IR region. Just after deposition the photoconductivity spectrum maximum of Zn1-xCdxSe （0 〈 x 〈 0.6） films is observed at λ1 = 0.545 ＋ 0.495/am versus the film composition.

Pulsed Laser Deposition ZnS Buffer Layers for CIGS Solar Cells

Polycrystalline ZnS films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition （PLD） on quartz glass substrates under different growth conditions at different substrate temperatures of 20, 200, 400, and 600 ℃, which is a suitable alternative to chemical bath deposited （CBD） CdS as a buffer layer in Cu（In,Ga）Se2 （CIGS） solar cells. X-ray diffraction studies indicate the films are polycrystalline with zinc-blende structure and they exhibit preferential orientation along the cubic phase β-ZnS （111） direction, which conflicts with the conclusion of wurtzite structure by Murali that the ZnS films deposited by pulse plating technique was polycrystalline with wurtzite structure. The Raman spectra of grown films show Al mode at approximately 350 cm^-1, generally observed in the cubic phase β-ZnS compounds. The planar and the cross-sectional morphology were observed by scanning electron microscopic. The dense, smooth, uniform grains are formed on the quartz glass substrates through PLD technique. The grain size of ZnS deposited by PLD is much smaller than that of CdS by conventional CBD method, which is analyzed as the main reason of detrimental cell performance. The composition of the ZnS films was also measured by X-ray fluorescence. The typical ZnS films obtained in this work are near stoichiometric and only a small amount of S-rich. The energy band gaps at different temperatures were obtained by absorption spectroscopy measurement, which increases from 3.2 eV to 3.7 eV with the increasing of the deposition temperature. ZnS has a wider energy band gap than CdS （2.4 eV）, which can enhance the blue response of the photovoltaic cells. These results show the high-quality of these substitute buffer layer materials are prepared through an all-dry technology, which can be used in the manufacture of CIGS thin film solar cells.

Fabrication of titanium oxide films at low temperature from aqueous solution

Titanium oxide thin films were prepared on self-assembled monolayers-coated silicon substrate using layer-by-layer self-assembly method and chemical bath deposition from an aqueous solution. The effects of temperature on structural properties, thickness and morphologies of titanium oxide thin films were investigated. The results show that the absorption peak of peroxo complexes of titanium at 410 nm decreases gradually with increasing the temperature. The deposited films consisting of titanium oxide nanocrystals are believed to be fully amorphous by XRD. Titanium oxide thin films fabricated at 60 °C for 2 h are continuous, dense and homogeneous with a size in the range of 20-40 nm by SEM. The chemical compositions of deposited thin films were studied by EDS, and the mole ratio of O to Ti is 2.2：1.

Effect of concentration of cadmium sulfate solution on structural,optical and electric properties of Cd_(1-x)Zn_(x)S thin films

Cd_(1-x)Zn_(x)S thin films were deposited by chemical bath deposition(CBD)on the glass substrate to study the influence of cadmium sulfate concentration on the structural characteristics of the thin film.The SEM results show that the thin film surfaces under the cadmium sulfate concentration of 0.005 M exhibit better compactness and uniformity.The distribution diagrams of thin film elements illustrate the film growth rate changes on the trend of the increase,decrease,and increase with the increase of cadmium sulfate concentration.XRD studies exhibit the crystal structure of the film is the hexagonal phase,and there are obvious diffraction peaks and better crystallinity when the concentration is 0.005 M.Spectrophotometer test results demonstrate that the relationship between zinc content x and optical band gap value E_(g) can be expressed by the equation E_(g)(x)=0.59x^(2)+0.69x+2.43.Increasing the zinc content can increase the optical band gap,and the absorbance of the thin film can be improved by decreasing the cadmium sulfate concentration,however,all of them have good transmittance.At a concentration of 0.005 M,the thin film has good absorbance in the 300-800 nm range,80%transmittance,and band gap value of 3.24 eV,which is suitable for use as a buffer layer for solar cells.

Influence of CdS films synthesized by different methods on the photovoltaic performance of CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells

The cadmium sulphide (CdS) film is grown on cadmium telluride (CdTe) nanorods (NRs) arrays by different methods such as chemical bath deposition (CBD), magnetron sputtering (MS), and homogenous precipitation (HP) techniques. The impact of various deposition methods is explored in detail on the growth of CdTe/CdS composite film, the CdTe/CdS interface property, and solar cell efficiency. Compared to the CBD and HP methods, the MS method can improve the growth of the CdS on CdTe NRs with high crystalline quality. The device based on the CdS film prepared by the MS method demonstrates excellent photovoltaic performance, which has the potential for applications in solar cells.

In-situ growth of a CdS window layer by vacuum thermal evaporation for CIGS thin film solar cell applications

Highly crystalline and transparent CdS films are grown by utilizing the vacuum thermal evaporation （VTE） method. The structural, surface morphological, and optical properties of the films are studied and compared with those prepared by chemical bath deposition （CBD）. It is found that the films deposited at a high substrate temperature （200 ℃） have a preferential orientation along （002） which is consistent with CBD-grown films. Absorption spectra reveal that the films are highly transparent and the optical band gap values are found to be in a range of 2.44 eV-2.56 eV. Culnl_xGaxSe2 （CIGS） solar cells with in-situ VTE-grown CdS films exhibit higher values of Voc together with smaller values of Jsc than those from CBD. Eventually the conversion efficiency and fill factor become slightly better than those from the CBD method. Our work suggests that the in-situ thermal evaporation method can be a competitive alternative to the CBD method, particularly in the physical- and vacuum-based CIGS technology.

EFFECT OF ANNEALING TREATMENT ON THE STRUCTURE OF CdS FILMS

The effect of annealing treatment on the structure of CdS films was investigated. The cadmium sulfide thin films were prepared by chemical bath deposition, and were annealed at nitrogen atmosphere at different temperatures. The films were characterized by SEM and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to examine the chemical states on the CdS films surface. It was found that thermal annealing could produce large grains of CdS thin films, remove the air contamination and reduce the oxygen content on the CdS films surface. Therefore, the CdS films changed more uniform and smoother surface after thermal annealing.

Photovoltaic performance of TiO_(2) and ZnO nanostructures in anthocyanin dye-sensitized solar cells

This research paper reports the fabrication and evaluation of titanium dioxide(TiO_(2))-and zinc oxide(ZnO)-based dye-sensitized solar cells with anthocyanin dye extracted from pomegranate.TiO_(2) and ZnO were synthesized using the hydrothermal synthesis and chemical bath deposition techniques,respectively.The scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that TiO_(2) had nanopillars made up of nano rods with dimensions of 111.866,90.521,and 81.908 nm,while ZnO had hexagonal patterned nanorods with lengths of 283.294 nm and diameters of 91.782 nm.The absorption spectra of the pomegranate dye were analysed and the strongest absorp-tion peak was found to be at 520 nm,which corresponds to the existing anthocyanin pigment.The band gap of pomegranate dye was noted down to be 2.45 eV.The performance of the dye-sensitized solar cells was evaluated using one sun illumination(100 mW/cm^(2))where the dye-sensitized solar cell with TiO_(2) nanopillars achieved an improved efficiency of 0.46%whereas the dye-sensitized solar cell with ZnO nanorods showed a considerably reduced efficiency of 0.42%.

A process study of high-quality Zn(O,S)thin-film fabrication for thin-film solar cells

The Zn(O,S)thin film is considered a most promising candidate for a cadmium-free buffer layer of the Cu(In,Ga)Se_(2)(CIGS)thin-film solar cell due to its advantages of optical responses in the short-wavelength region and adjustable bandgap.In this paper,the thin-film growth mechanism and process optimization of Zn(O,S)films fabricated using the chemical bath deposition method are sys-tematically investigated.The thickness and quality of Zn(O,S)films were found to be strongly affected by the concentration variation of the precursor chemicals.It was also revealed that different surface morphologies of Zn(O,S)films would appear if the reaction time were changed and,subsequently,the optimum reaction time was defined.The film-growth curve suggested that the growth rate varied linearly with the deposition temperature and some defects appeared when the temperature was too high.In addition,to further improve the film quality,an effective post-treatment approach was proposed and the experimental results showed that the microstructure of the Zn(O,S)thin film was improved by an ammonia etching process followed by an annealing process.For com-parison purposes,both Zn(O,S)-based and CdS-based devices were fabricated and characterized.The device with a Zn(O,S)-CIGS solar cell after post-treatment showed near conversion efficiency comparable to that of the device with the CdS-CIGS cell.

Tailoring uniform γ-MnO2 nanosheets on highly conductive three-dimensional current collectors for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes

Recent efforts have focused on the fabrication and application of three- dimensional （3-D） nanoarchitecture electrodes, which can exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. Herein, a novel strategy towards the design and synthesis of size- and thickness-tunable two-dimensional （2-D） MnO2 nanosheets on highly conductive one-dimensional （l-D） backbone arrays has been developed via a facile, one-step enhanced chemical bath deposition （ECBD） method at a low temperature （-50 ℃）. Inclusion of an oxidizing agent, BrO3-, in the solution was crucial in controlling the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of the nanosheets, and in inducing the formation of the tailored and uniformly arranged nanosheet arrays. We fabricated supercapacitor devices based on 3-D MnO2 nanosheets with conductive Sb-doped SnO2 nanobelts as the backbone. They achieved a specific capacitance of 162 F·g-1 at an extremely high current density of 20 A·g% and good cycling stability that shows a capacitance retention of -92% of its initial value, along with a coulombic efficiency of almost 100% after 5,000 cycles in an aqueous solution of I M Na2SO4. The results were attributed to the unique hierarchical structures, which provided a short diffusion path of electrolyte ions by means of the 2-D sheets and direct electrical connections to the current collector by 1-D arrays as well as the prevention of aggregation by virtue of the well-aligned 3-D structure.