Dip coated nanocrystalline CdZnS thin films for solar cell application

Nanocrystalline cadmium sulfide (CdS) and zinc cadmium sulfide (ZnCdS) thin films have been grown via simple and low cost dip coating technique. The prepared films are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopic (AFM) and UV-VIS spectrophotometer techniques to reveal their structural, morphological and optical properties. XRD shows that both samples grown have zinc blende structure. The grain size is calculated as 6.2 and 8 nm using Scherrer’s formula. The band gap value of CdS and CdZnS film is estimated to be 2.58 and 2.69 eV respectively by UV-vis spectroscopy. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) investigations are carried out using cell configuration as n-CdZnS/(1M NaOH + 1M Na2S + 1M S)/C. The photovoltaic output characteristic is used to calculate fill-factor (FF) and solar conversion efficiency (η).