Morphology reliance of cobalt sulfide thin films: A chemo-thermo-mechanical perception

We report onto the morphology dependency of CoS thin films by studying the role of mechanical agitation, thermal assistance and deposition duration in an aqueous alkaline bath (pH = 9 ± 0.1). The deposition of CoS thin films was carried out at different mechanical stirring rates, deposition temperatures and times. As-optimized CoS thin film were of polycrystalline nature and exhibited hexagonal crystal structure. Co2+ rich nature (≈85%) of optimistically grown thin film was detected. Complex multifaceted webbed network of as-grown elongated and threaded into each other CoS crystals was observed through a scanning electron microscope. Surface morphology was further studied by means of an atomic force microscopy. Existence of magnetic domains was marked in the magnetic force microscopy. As-grown CoS thin films were having transmission index of 0.5 with a band gap of ≈1.59 eV.