Electrochemically Induced Atom-by-Atom Growth of ZnS Thin Films:  A New Approach for ZnS Co-deposition

Abstract

Ultrathin films of ZnS were grown on Au (111) substrates using a novel, simple co-deposition method and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-visible spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammograms were used to determine approximate deposition potentials for co-deposition. XRD shows that the material growth is highly preferential with (111) orientation. Both AFM and XRD data indicate that the ZnS growth mechanism starts by the formation of rounded nanoparticles at the surface and then continues by lateral and vertical growth to form flat square crystallites of ZnS. UV-vis spectra taken for the ZnS thin films with various thicknesses, which is related to deposition time, shows that the band gap of the ZnS decreases as the film thickness increases.

Synthesis and characterization of Sb2Te3 nanofilms via electrochemical co-deposition method

“…for Sb 2 Te 3 ), F is Faraday's number (96,485 C/equivalent), n is the charge number (18), and A is the surface area of electrode (1 cm 2 ). The thickness results calculated from Eq.…”

“…We showed that this method could also be used to grow highly crystalline thin films of PbS [17], ZnS [18], CdS [19], PbTe [20]. In the present study, we illustrate the detailed growth process of Sb 2 Te 3 nanofilms on single-crystalline Au (1 1 1) electrodes by using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and reflection absorption-FTIR (RA-FTIR).…”

Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) and Related Sequential Solution‐Phase Deposition Techniques

“…The band gap of a thicker fi lm (deposition time 12 h) was 3.60 eV. 147 Cadmium chalcogenide thin fi lms have been grown by ECALE using cadmium sulphate as metal source and sodium sulphide, sodium selenite, selenium oxide, and tellurium oxide as chalcogenide precursors. 149 -154 The electrochemical growth processes have been widely studied.…”

One-step electrochemical preparation of the ternary (BixSb1−x)2Te3 thin films on Au(111): Composition-dependent growth and characterization studies

“…Particularly for optoelectronic applications, it is important to be able to tune the band gap of the material [5]. In recent years, extensive attention has been devoted to tune the band gap of the binary compound semiconductors through the quantum confinement effect [6,7]. However, progress in this field has so far only allowed generating thin films with thickness of a limited range, in which the quantum confinement effect is prominent.…”

“…We have shown that this method could be used to grow highly crystalline binary thin films of PbS [18], ZnS [6], CdS [7], PbTe [19] and Sb 2 Te 3 [20]. In this study, we report on the synthesis of homogeneous ternary (Bi x Sb 1−x ) 2 Te 3 thin films with various compositions (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) using modified electrochemical technique.…”