Annealing Effect on One Step Electrodeposited CuSbSe2 Thin Films

• Published in: Coatings (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 75
• Main Authors: Abouabassi, Khadija, Atourki, Lahoucine, Sala, Andrea, Ouafi, Mouaad, Boulkaddat, Lahcen, Ait Hssi, Abderrahim, Labchir, Nabil, Bouabid, Khalid, Almaggoussi, Abdelmajid, Gilioli, Edmondo, Ihlal, Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Annealing; Annealing furnaces; Antimony; Copper selenides; Efficiency; Electrodes; Electrolytes; Energy dispersive X ray analysis; Fluorine; Glass substrates; Intermetallic compounds; Morphology; Optical properties; Photovoltaic cells; Raman spectroscopy; Selenides; Thin films; Tin oxides; Tube furnaces; Voltammetry; X ray analysis; Japan
• ISSN: 2079-6412; 2079-6412
• DOI: 10.3390/coatings12010075

The purpose of this work is to study the influence of the annealing temperature on the structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of CuSbSe2 thin films electrodeposited in a single step. CuSbSe2 thin films were grown on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/glass substrates using the aqueous electrodeposition technique, then annealed in a tube furnace under nitrogen at temperatures spanning from 250 to 500 °C. The resulting films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Raman spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The annealing temperature plays a fundamental role on the films structural properties; in the range 250–350 °C the formation of pure CuSbSe2 phase from electrodeposited binary selenides occurs. From 400 to 500 °C, CuSbSe2 undergoes a preferential phase orientation change, as well as the increasing formation of copper-rich phases such as Cu3SbSe3 and Cu3SbSe4 due to the partial decomposition of CuSbSe2 and to the antimony losses.