Aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) of CdS thin films from heterocyclic cadmium(II) complexes

•Cadmium dithiocarbamato complexes of piperidine and tetrahydroquinoline were synthesized.•Single X-ray crystal structure of cadmium(II)piperidine dithiocarbamato complex elucidated.•AACVD of the complexes formed nanocrystalline, compact CdS thin films.•Optical properties of the CdS films exhibited quantum confinement effect.

Cadmium dithiocarbamato complexes of piperidine (1) and tetrahydroquinoline (2) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, NMR and TGA analyses. The X-ray single crystal structure of bis(piperidinedithiocarbamato)cadmium(II) complex (1) was determined. The synthesized compounds were used as single source precursors to deposit CdS films on glass substrates at 350, 400 and 450 °C using the aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) method. The surface morphology and the size of the CdS films were determined by AFM and SEM analyses; the crystalline phases by p-XRD analyses and the elemental composition by EDX measurements. The particle sizes were found to be in the range between 50–110 nm and 100–220 nm for complex (1) and (2), respectively. The electronic properties of the CdS films were analyzed by UV–Vis and Raman spectroscopic methods. Results revealed that the morphology, size and composition of the films are influenced by the deposition temperature.

Graphical abstractThe cadmium piperidine and tetrahydroquinoline dithiocarbamate complexes were used to deposit CdS thin films using aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) method.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide