Electrochemical Coprecipitation of Zinc and Aluminum in Aqueous Electrolytes for ZnO and AZO Coverage Deposition

Natalia A Martynova,Anastasia V Grigorieva,Shakhnozabonu R Alieva,Viktor N Svishchev,Leonid S Lepnev,Elena G Chertorylskaya,Mikhail E Vishnevskiy,Alexey D Bozhko

doi:10.1155/2019/6808347

Natalia A Martynova, Anastasia V Grigorieva + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6808347

Copy DOI

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the technological challenge of the electrochemical formation of zinc oxide and Al-doped ZnO films (ZnO:Al, AZO) as transparent conductive oxide coatings with complex architectures for solar cell photoanode materials. A cathodic electrodeposition of AZO was performed using aqueous nitrate electrolytes at 25°C. A significant positive deviation in aluminum percentage in the films was demonstrated by the LAES, EDX, and XPS methods, which originates from aluminum hydroxide sedimentation. The photoluminescent characteristics of the ZnO films reveal low band intensities related to intrinsic defects, while the samples with 1 at.% of aluminum show a strong and wide PL band at 600±80 nm and increase in conductivity.

Highlights

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a multifunctional material, mostly due to its transparent and conducting characteristics and its advantages in a wide range of technological applications such as electrodes in solar cells and in flat-panel displays, touch control panels, shields with electromagnetic protection, lightemitting diodes (LEDs), and smart windows
The aim of this study is to examine the technological challenge of the electrochemical formation of zinc oxide and Al-doped ZnO films (ZnO:Al, Aluminum-doped ZnO films (AZO)) as transparent conductive oxide coatings with complex architectures for solar cell photoanode materials
According to Cyclic voltammetry (CV) data and other studies [17], the growth mechanism of ZnO films from nitrate electrolytes can be described by the following processes

Summary

Introduction

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a multifunctional material, mostly due to its transparent and conducting characteristics and its advantages in a wide range of technological applications such as electrodes in solar cells and in flat-panel displays, touch control panels, shields with electromagnetic protection, lightemitting diodes (LEDs), and smart windows. AZO thin films can be prepared by various techniques such as sol-gel synthesis [1,2,3], atomic layer deposition [4,5,6], chemical pyrolysis [7], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [8], magnetron sputtering [9, 10], and pulsed laser deposition [11]. Most of these methods require a controlled environment, which makes the processing complicated and expensive. The preparation of AZO thin films by electrocrystallization can be environmentally safe, and nontoxic chemicals can be used in electrolytic baths

Objectives

Results

Conclusion