Influencing the structural, microstructural and optical properties of PbS nanocrystalline thin films by Mg2+ doping

Abstract

The aim of the current work is study the effect of Mg2+ doping (0–4%) on lead sulfide (PbS) thin films prepared using a simplest and cost effective chemical bath deposition (CBD) technique on glass substrates at ambient temperature and pressure. The effect of Mg2+ content on structural, morphological and optical properties of PbS thin films was studied. Powder X-ray diffraction and Atomic Force Microscopic results showed that all the deposited thin films exhibits both nanostructured and polycrystalline nature with cubic structure. The remarkable effect on optical transmittance and band gap was observed due to Mg2+ doping for all the films. The optical energy band gap values were found to enhance with increasing the Mg2+ content in PbS thin films. Further, the refractive index was calculated and a relationship with energy band gap was investigated and also the high frequency dielectric constant (ε∞) was determined using the energy band gap values as a function of the Mg2+ content.