Influence of alloy engineering on structural and photo detection properties of SbXSn1-XSe2 ternary alloys

In order to exploit effect of Sb incorporation on properties of SnSe2, alloy engineering is performed in SbxSn1-xSe2 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) ternary compounds. The single crystals are grown by direct vapour transport technique. The elemental composition and purity of as-grown compounds are characterized by EDAX. The optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy show characteristic morphological features like helical spiral, layered structure, clean surface, etc. on surface of grown crystals. The powder X-ray diffraction shows that the pristine and Sb incorporated samples possess 2H-Hexahonal lattice structure. However, lattice parameters and unitcell volume are changed on incorporation of Sb in SnSe2 structure due to increase in microstrain. The Raman spectroscopy reveals SnSe2-type A1g vibrational mode and the corresponding peak is shifted on lower wavenumber side on increasing Sb content. The results confirm substitution of Sb(+5) on Sn(+4) lattice site in host network. The influence of alloy engineering on photo response is studied. The highest photocurrent of 1.88 μA, responsivity of 43.45 mAW−1, detectivity of 18.25 × 1011 Jones and EQE (%) of 47.28% are observed for X = 0.1 sample.