Photoelectrochemical (PEC) studies on Cd_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)Se nanocrystalline thin films deposited by a spray pyrolysis technique

摘要

Recently, nanostructured thin films have attracted the attention of researchers from several disciplines, due to their outstanding electronic and optical properties and potential applications in various optoelectronic devices. The ternary Cd_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)Se nanocrystalline thin films were deposited by a spray pyrolysis method onto glass, aluminium, copper and stainless steel substrates. The structural and morphological properties were studied by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analysis. The XRD study revealed that, Cd_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)Se films are nanocrystalline in nature with hexagonal lattice. The optical absorption study showed that, the semiconductor Cd_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)Se thin film deposited on glass exhibits direct band gap energy of the order of 1.95 eV. The PEC study revealed that, Cd_(0.5)Fe_(0.5)Se thin films deposited on aluminium substrate exhibited maximum fill factor (FF) and efficiency (η) as compared to the films deposited on stainless steel and copper substrates.