Hydrothermal growth of Sn4+-doped FeS2 cubes on FTO substrates and its photoelectrochemical properties

Abstract Sn 4+ -doped FeS 2 cubes with high yield thin films have been successfully synthesized on FTO glass through a simple hydrothermal process. The Sn 4+ -doped FeS 2 cubes are single crystalline in cubic structure with (2 0 0) facet as the main exposed surface. The formation process was investigated. Sn 2+ was found to play an important role during the formation process of FeS 2 growing on FTO glass. The direct optical band gap value can be estimated to be 1.71 eV which is much larger than that of bulk FeS 2 due to the Sn 4+ doping. The photoelectrochemical properties of the Sn 4+ -doped FeS 2 films were studied as well. There is a significant increase in photocurrent of Sn 4+ -doped FeS 2 electrode compared to that of undoped sample.