Cu(InGa)(SeS)₂ Electrodeposition from a Single Bath Using Pulsing Current Technique

Abstract

Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGSS) due to its greater band gap, has potential advantages over CuInGaSe2 (CIGS) as a photovoltaic film. Due to its lower capital cost and relatively high productivity, electrodeposition is a particularly appealing method for producing such solar materials (1-5). However, none describes the full production of such a molecule without the necessity for extra sulfur addition from the vapor phase4. Several recent articles disclose CIGSS electrodeposition. We introduce here the pulsing current method to dilute electrolytes used in previous work (6-7). Because of the diluted electrolyte composition, CIGSS can be directly electrodeposited from a single bath with a pulsing technique. The bath composition is 0.45 mM CuCl2-H2O; 0.4 mM InCl3; 0.77 mM H2SeO3; 0.51 mM GaCl3; and 0.3 mM Na2S2O3. PHydrion is applied to buffer the electrolyte to pH=2, and 0.7 M LiCl is applied as a supporting electrolyte. The flow was quantitatively characterized by agitation electrodeposition, which was done at room temperature onto a revolving disk electrode. Mass transport's impacts on deposit composition and substrate adherence are examined in various electrode rotation speeds and are represented by sample polarization curves. There was no requirement for the inclusion of metals from the gas phase during the subsequent annealing stage, which was carried out in an argon atmosphere. Two separate samples of absorber were evaluated for final sulfur atomic ratios of 5% and 15%. Utilizing the Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy method, the final composition was calculated (EDS). CIGSS crystallography was analyzed using the XRD method.