Development of ZnS thin film with Co, Cu and Ag doping using SILAR method

Abstract

Pure and doped ZnS thin films were synthesised using Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) over glass substrate with 15 deposition cycles at ambient temperature. In this study, pure ZnS nanoparticles were doped with the Cu, Co and Ag elements. The structural and optical properties of pure and doped ZnS thin films were explored. The structural and morphological properties of pure and doped ZnS thin films were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The SEM images confirmed that average diameter of nano-particles of ZnS was between 53 and 90 nm. Optical properties determined from UV–VIS spectrophotometry were used to analyse the measured absorbance. The Zinc sulphide thin film shows high absorption in the visible region. Further, ZnS doped with Co, Cu and Ag with doping concentration of 3% was investigated for the feasibility and quality of the solar cells. The optical absorption peak was approximately located at 350 nm. The increase of bandwidth with decrease of the absorption values were observed with doped ZnS thin films and the Ag doped ZnS thin film has broad absorption spectra over the visible light region.