Issue 24, 2020

The structure and photoelectrochemical activity of Cr-doped PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition

Abstract

Nanocrystalline undoped and Cr-doped PbS thin films were prepared on glass substrates by a simple chemical bath deposition method. The X-ray diffraction analyses of the films showed their polycrystalline nature with cubic structure and preferential growth along the (111) orientation. Cr incorporation decreases the average PbS crystallite size from 59.97 to 37.59 nm, whereas the strain and dislocation density showed an increasing trend. The atomic ratio of doping for Cr is about 0.63, 1.75, and 4.70% according to energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Morphological analysis showed that the average sizes of nanoclusters decreased from 73 to 41 nm as the Cr concentration increased. The optical band gap values are increased with increasing Cr doping. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) behaviors and the stability of the Cr doped PbS photoelectrodes were studied in 0.3 M Na2SO3 electrolyte solution. Also, the incident photon-to-current efficiency and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency are calculated and showed optimized values of 13.5% and 1.44% at 0.68 V and 390 nm. Moreover, the optimized electrode shows high chemical stability and a long lifetime. Finally, the effect of temperature on the PEC behaviors is evaluated and the different thermodynamic parameters are calculated.

Graphical abstract: The structure and photoelectrochemical activity of Cr-doped PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Dez 2019
Accepted
21 Mär 2020
First published
09 Apr 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 14458-14470

The structure and photoelectrochemical activity of Cr-doped PbS thin films grown by chemical bath deposition

A. M. Ahmed, M. Rabia and M. Shaban, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 14458 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA11042A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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