Preparation and characterization of tin sulfide films with or without sodium chloride

Abstract The successive ionic adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method was used to obtain tin sulfide film on FTO glass. In this work tin sulfide films were prepared with or without the immersion stage in distilled water. As-deposited tin sulfide films consisted of orthorhombic structures SnS and Sn2S3. This multiphase composition of obtained thin films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The estimated average crystallite size was in the range of 14–31 nm and was dependent on the conditions of the film preparation. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis showed that tin sulfides films prepared without the immersion stage in distilled water formed with sodium chloride. The percentage incorporation of sodium and chlorine in those films was 5.29–8.10 and 8.71–11.22 at. %, respectively. The addition of sodium and chlorine atoms exhibited better crystallinity and effected on the optical properties of tin sulfides films.