Investigation of the Effects of Different H2SO4, HCl, HNO3 and HClO4 Liquid Acid Media on the Synthesis of CdTe Semiconductor Thin Films for Solar Cells

Abstract

The main target of the present paper is to investigate the effect of different acidic aqueous media(DAAM) on the synthesis of cadmium telluride thin films(CdTeTFm). The synthesis of CdTeTFm was carried out by the electrochemical deposition method(EDM) in DAAM. The chronoamperometry method of electrodeposition(ED) was used for the production of CdTeTFm. Furthermore, the electrochemical behaviors of the solutions were studied using cyclic voltammetry. The experiments were carried out with 3 electrodes (a working electrode (WE), a reference electrode(CE), and a counter electrode(RE)) using the electrochemical cell potentiostatic method. The experimental conditions of the acidic aqueous CdTe solution have been determined to be pH 3.56-3.57, the temperature of the solution is 85°C, the concentration of CdTe 2.45x10-1 M, and the reaction time is 25 minutes. The physical properties of CdTeTFm were determined by XRD, SEM/EDX, FT-IR, and UV-VIS analysis methods. According to the results of the analysis, it was observed that acidic aqueous media have an important role in the synthesis of CdTeTFm. The bandgap ranges and Cd/Te ratios of the synthesized thin films were obtained as 1.42, 1.48, 1.50, 1.58 eV, 0.65, 0.587, 0.79 and 0.738, respectively. © 2024, Turkish Chemical Society. All rights reserved.