Co–Mo–Se ternary chalcogenide thin film coated p-Si photocathode for efficient solar hydrogen production

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting holds a great promise for clean and sustainable hydrogen production. In this study, the PEC performance of Co–Mo–Se ternary chalcogenide thin film coated Si photocathodes is investigated. The Co–Mo–Se films with various Co/Mo atomic ratios were prepared by thermal selenization of sputter deposited Co–Mo alloy films. Among the photocathodes, the Co–Mo–Se (3:10)/[Formula: see text]-Si surpasses the PEC performance of the MoSe2/[Formula: see text]-Si with an onset potential of +124 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), a photocurrent density of −22.68 mA/cm2 at zero overpotential and good stability over 6 h period of test. The superior performance of the Co–Mo–Se (3:10)/[Formula: see text]-Si is ascribed to the high catalytic activity of the film in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and efficient collection of photogenerated charge carriers. Such ternary chalcogenide thin films offer exciting opportunities for many applications in which the physicochemical properties can be tuned by changing the relative amount of the solute atoms.

Sputtered Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) Buffer Layer for Kesterite and Chalcogenide Thin Film Solar Cell (TFSC) Applications

In this study, we present a process to deposit cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin film on glass substrate using in-house made CdS sputter target deposited by RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering. The bandgap of CdS film was about 2.4 eV estimated using tauc plot. Structural analysis was done using XRD and highest peak is at (101) and two other small peaks at (100) and (110) confirm CdS phase. Raman analysis was done for further confirmation of phases present in CdS film where peaks at 299.97 cm−1 and 599.8 cm−1 showed phase pure CdS film. The sputtering method used for CdS thin film preparation is an industrially viable technique and can be used for in line mass production.

Butyldithiocarbamate acid solution processing: its fundamentals and applications in chalcogenide thin film solar cells

Butyldithiocarbamate acid can dissolve a series of metal oxides; thus, it enables the fabrication of metal chalcogenide thin-film solar cells.