Nickel selenide, NiSe 2 is one of the absorbent materials used in thin film technology in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell. Electrodeposition is a preferred method to produce NiSe 2 thin films due to its advantages such as the possibility of large scale production, minimum waste of components, easy monitoring of deposition process and large area deposition.Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and triethanolamine (TEA) were employed as the additives during the deposition. The samples were deposited within 30 minutes deposition time according to potential acquired from cyclic voltammetry measurements. Thin film thickness measurements, structural studies, optical studies, morphological and compositional analysis as well as Mott-Schottky measurements were carried out. .
Solar cell is one of the promising alternative green energy sources that can provide free electricity when sunlight is converted. The absorbent materials and their synthesis methods are subject of interest mainly due to solar panel installation cost despite of free electricity generated. The well-known silicon solar cells made, either amorphous or polycrystalline are good in conversion efficiency up to 17%, but their high cost make the researchers to look for alternate materials. Semiconducting materials in thin film form such as InP, SnO2 and ZnO are being studied as the alternative materials, but are not commercialised due to their poor conversion efficiency. Another group of semiconductor compounds known as transition metal chalcogenides (TMC) have been developed to be used as the absorbent materials. Consisting of transition metals and chalcogenides (S, Se and Te), they show promising solar absorbent properties such as semiconducting band gap, well adhesion to substrate and good conversion with better cost-effective. There are many TMC compounds synthesised, including copper indium selenide (CIS), ZnTe2, CdSe etc. Nickel, one of the transition metals synthesised with chalcogenides are referred as nickel chalcogenides. There are many possible combinations of nickel chalcogenides such as NiS2, NiSe, NiSe2 and Ni3Se2. The combination of nickel and telluride are the fewest being observed due to the nature of tellurium that is poorly-adhesive onto the substrate. Therefore, NiTe2 thin film is being electro-synthesised onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates and their properties are studied. The additives are being used to improve the adhesion between the film and substrate. Cyclic voltammetry experiments have been done prior to electrodeposition in order to get the electrodeposition potential range where the observable reduction range is between-0.9-(-1.1) V. The electrodeposition is carried out using the potentials in the reduction region, producing the well-adherent, well-distributed and dark-coloured thin films.
Background: Nickel, one of the transition metals synthesised with chalcogenides such as Se, S and Te with possible combinations of nickel chalcogenides such as NiS 2 , NiSe, NiSe 2 and Ni 3 Se 2 . The combination of nickel and telluride are the fewest being observed due to the nature of tellurium that is relatively heavier than both sulphur and selenium, thus poorly-adhesive onto the substrate. Methods: Therefore, NiTe 2 thin film is being synthesised onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates with the complex additives (Triethanolamine, TEA and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA) and their properties are studied. The present work is focusing on the NiTe 2 synthesise through electrochemical route. Results: Cyclic voltammetry experiments have been done prior to electrodeposition in order to get the electrodeposition potential range. The observable reduction range is between −0.9−(−1.1) V with 5−10 min induction period of full thin film distribution depending upon the electrolyte conditions.
The nanostructural characteristics of direct-current magnetron sputter-deposited Ni4Al alloy films were studied during in situ isothermal annealing in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). An expansion of the lattice by nearly 5% was observed for the synthesized films in their low-thickness and as-deposited state. The lattice size approaches the bulk value when the film thickness increases or after vacuum annealing heat-treatment. The Ni4Al films have a nanocrystalline structure in which the ordered L12 phase appears upon annealing at above 500°C. A grain coalescence trend was found for the Ni4Al films during the in situ annealing above 500°C. This can be the main reason for the abnormal grain growth of these films at these high temperatures.
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