Photoelectrochemical (PEC) studies on Cd0.5Fe0.5Se nanocrystalline thin films deposited by a spray pyrolysis technique

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 Cd0.5Fe0.5Se 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, Cd0.5Fe0.5Se films are nanocrystalline in nature with hexagonal lattice. The optical absorption study showed that, the semiconductor Cd0.5Fe0.5Se thin film deposited on glass exhibits direct band gap energy of the order of 1.95 eV. The PEC study revealed that, Cd0.5Fe0.5Se thin films deposited on aluminium substrate exhibited maximum fill factor (FF) and efficiency (eta) as compared to the films deposited on stainless steel and copper substrates. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.