Structural, electrical and optical properties of nanostructured Cd1−xFexS thin films deposited by chemical spray pyrolysis technique

•Spray pyrolysis method is employed to deposit Cd1−xFexS thin films.•Films are nanocrystalline in nature with hexagonal lattice.•n-Type Cd1−xFexS films are semiconducting.•Physical properties of film depend on composition.

Multi-component nanostructured thin films of Cd1−xFexS were successfully deposited onto glass substrates from aqueous solutions of ferric chloride, cadmium chloride and thiourea using chemical spray pyrolysis technique. The structural, compositional and morphological studies were carried out by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) respectively. The structural study revealed that, CdS, FeS and Cd1−xFexS films are nanocrystalline in nature with hexagonal lattice. The optical characterization shows that the band gap of the spray deposited CdS film is 2.20 eV and it increases with ‘x’ and becomes 2.44 eV for FeS. The electrical resistivity of Cd1−xFexS thin films is of the order of 106 Ω cm and shows variation depending on ‘x’. The thermo-emf measurement confirms n-type conductivity of Cd1−xFexS thin films.

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