Solution-phase deposition of SnS thin films via thermo-reduction of SnS₂

Abstract

Here, we demonstrate a novel solution-based route for deposition of tin monosulfide (SnS) thin films, which are emerging, non-toxic absorber materials for low-cost and large-scale PV applications via thermo-reducing Sn(iv) to Sn(ii). Upon optimizing the morphology of the SnS layer via adding a seed layer, the SnS-based hybrid solar cells show promising photocurrent conversion efficiencies.

Deposition and facile control over the morphology of phase-pure SnS thin films via the spin-coating route

“…In our previous work, a phase-pure SnS nanoplate film was successfully deposited by a spin coating method with the sequential thermo-reducing process (detail method was shown in ESI). 26 The reducing agent was Hydrazine dihydrochloride (HDC), which is suitable to react with the ionic dimer complexes (thiostannate(IV), [Sn 2 S 6 ] 4-) since the ionic dimer complexes and HDC ions are interlaced well with each other due to Coulombic interaction. Based on this task, we used variant reducing agents, such as Hydrazine hydrate (HH) and Hydrazine monohydrochloride (HMC), which were water soluble and preferable interlacing with the anionic complexes, for further investigation of crystal and film growth.…”

“…Deposition methods of SnS thin films are including vacuum and solution phases. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Solution phase methods for deposition of SnS thin films are favorable for the low-cost and large-scale production, and many researchers have reported successful deposition methods, such as chemical bath deposition (CBD), electrodeposition, spray deposition, successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) and spin-coating method. [22][23][24][25][26][27] However, there are few reports for controlling surface morphology of SnS thin films while during directly depositing on substrate.…”

“…[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Solution phase methods for deposition of SnS thin films are favorable for the low-cost and large-scale production, and many researchers have reported successful deposition methods, such as chemical bath deposition (CBD), electrodeposition, spray deposition, successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) and spin-coating method. [22][23][24][25][26][27] However, there are few reports for controlling surface morphology of SnS thin films while during directly depositing on substrate. 13,21,26 Spin-coating deposition of SnS thin films is a facile, simple, and scalable method for the manufacture of thin-film applications, and many researchers have been reported.…”

“…13,21,26 Spin-coating deposition of SnS thin films is a facile, simple, and scalable method for the manufacture of thin-film applications, and many researchers have been reported. 8,21,25,26 Furthermore, deposition of phase-pure SnS films with various morphologies using spin-coating route is often challenging for not only tuning physical and chemical properties but also using to improve performance of electronic and photoelectronic devices. Here, we report a simple spin-coating method to depositing phase-pure SnS thin films with various surface morphologies via facial controlling over temperature ramping rate of the thermo-reducing process.…”

Electrical characterization and solar light sensitivity of SnS2/n-Si junction

“…In particular, the SnS2 has attracted considerable interest of researchers in recent years due to ntype electrical conductivity (Kim et al, 2018), non-toxic (Dong et al, 2018), wide band gap (Huanga et al, 2017), high absorption coefficient , high surface activity (Kumar et al, 2019), earth-abundant and cost-effective properties (Hu et al, 2019). Therefore, this material with these properties is suitable some critical opto-electronic application such as optical and transparent gas sensor for sensing NH3, H2S and alcohols (Anitha et al, 2018) and an buffer layer in the n-CdS/p-SnS heterojunction solar cell instead of the CdS toxic-layer .…”