Cathodic electrodeposition and analysis of SnS films for photoelectrochemical cells

Thin films of p-SnS were cathodically electrodeposited on tin oxide conduct ing glass substrates from aqueous solution containing SnCl2 and Na2S2O3. Th e mechanism of electrochemical co-deposition of tin and sulphur is investig ated by cyclic voltammetry. Deposits have been characterised with X-ray dif fractograms,, microstructure analysis, chemical analysis, optical and elect rical measurements. The films were found to be polycrystalline with an opti cal. energy gap of 1.15eV. Mott-Schottky plot has been drawn tin the dark c ondition) to evaluate the semiconductor parameters. A photoelectrochemical cell with the configuration of p-SnSIFe3+, Fe2+IPt yielded a short-circuit current density of 0.65 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit voltage of 320 mV under 100 mW cm(-2) illumination. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.