Effect of substrate on the nanostructured Bi2Se3 thin films for solar cell applications

Abstract

In this article, we are reporting the effect of different substrates on the growth of nanostructured bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) thin films for photoelectrochemical (PEC) application. Three different substrates are used such as glass, indium doped tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) for the deposition of Bi2Se3 thin film using arrested precipitation technique at room temperature (300 K). The optical, structural, morphological, compositional and PEC properties of Bi2Se3 thin films were studied by using various characterization techniques such as UV–Vis–NIR, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and PEC as a function of different substrates. Finally, the PEC performance of deposited thin films shows highest conversion efficiency 0.14 % for Bi2Se3 thin films deposited on FTO coated substrate surface.