Electro Deposition of silver sulphide (Ag2S) and cerium doped silver sulphide (Ce: Ag2S) thin films for structural properties investigation

Abstract

In this research, Ag₂S and Cerium doped Ag₂S thin film were successfully synthesized and characterized for structural properties analysis for optoelectronics devices application. Deposition of thin film made from cerium-doped silver chalcogenide (Ce:Ag₂S) was conducted at room temperature. Crystal structural analysis of the deposited thin film was done using x – ray diffractometer machine. Various bath parameters including deposition time, pH level, and molar concentration of the cerium precursor were adjusted to optimize their impact on the structural characteristics of this thin film. The effects of percentage concentration of cerium dopant, deposition time and pH on the structural properties of Ag₂S and Cerium doped Ag₂S thin films were reported in this work. From the experimental investigation, increase in intensity of the diffraction spectra was observed as dopant concentration increased from 5% to 10%. The diffractogram exhibits distinct peaks corresponding to specific crystallographic planes, indicating changes in lattice parameters due to varying deposition times which shows that that longer deposition times lead to better crystal quality with fewer lattice defects and larger crystallites. The investigation also revealed that lowest pH tested leads to a good balance of structural properties. The obtained results in this study revealed good results which are comparable with results obtained by other researchers in literature. These results obtained suggest the possibility of using the material in optoelectronics devices like LEDs, solar cells, transducers, and photodetectors