Multinary CdZnIn2(SeTe)5 thin films produced by arrested precipitation technique for photoelectrochemical solar cells

Abstract Chemically synthesized multinary CdZnIn 2 (SeTe) 5 thin film used as photoanodes in solar cell have been systematically investigated. The indium ion concentration dependent morphological evolution and its consequent effect on photoelectrochemical properties were studied. The growth mechanism for the morphological evolution of CdZnIn 2 (SeTe) 5 thin films has been proposed. Optical absorption values varied with the indium concentration and the band gap energy is found in the range 1.87eV to 1.72 eV. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns reveal the formation of rhombohedra, cubic and hexagonal CdZnIn 2 (SeTe) 5 thin films with the preferred (110), (138) and (220) orientation for CdZnIn 2 (SeTe) 5 microflower, which is further supported by the analysis of the high resolution transmission electron micrographs (HRTEM). The SEM image revealed that the surface morphology of multinary thin films have been changed to microflower by systematic control of indium ion concentration. Finally, current-voltage measurements at different concentration for solar cell with maximum efficiency were carried out in order to find out the dominant transport mechanisms. The solar cell fabricated shows the best conversion efficiency of 1.28%. The deposition of a certain amount of indium was beneficial to the improvement of photoelectrochemical conversion efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest efficiency for CdZnIn 2 (SeTe) 5 based photoanode solar cells fabricated from APT.