Electrodeposition of copper (II) sulfide and zinc sulfide onto polycrystalline gold electrode

Abstract

An electrodeposition-based process was developed in this work. Electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy (ECALE) and co-deposition methodologies were employed to grow copper (II) sulfide (CuS) and zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films as photovoltaic semiconductors on polycrystalline gold electrode. The deposition potentials of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and sulfur (S) were defined separately by cyclic voltammetry. Thin films were created from an electrolyte containing copper (II) sulfate (CuSO4), sodium sulfur (Na2S) and zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) using both cyclic voltammetry and bulk electrolysis techniques. The influence of bath temperature at the deposition potential was studied to determine the crystallinity of deposits. From the chronoamperometry results including the transients obtained within the under potential region, the nucleation and growth process of deposits were estimated. In this way, an electrodeposition-based method for CuS and ZnS semiconductors in a comparable basis was improved on polycrystalline gold substrate.