Modified chemical synthesis of porous α-Sm2S3 thin films

•A novel chemical route to prepare α-Sm2S3 thin films.•A porous honeycomb like morphology of the α-Sm2S3 thin film.•An application of α-Sm2S3 thin film toward its supercapacitive behaviour.

The paper reports synthesis of porous α-Sm2S3 thin films using modified chemical synthesis, also known as successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), wettability and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) techniques are used for the study of structural, elemental, morphological and optical properties of α-Sm2S3 films. An orthorhombic crystal structure of α-Sm2S3 is resulted from XRD study. The SEM and AFM observations showed highly porous α-Sm2S3 film surface. An optical band gap of 2.50 eV is estimated from optical absorption spectrum. The porous α-Sm2S3 thin film tuned for supercapacitive behaviour using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge discharge showed a specific capacitance and energy density of 294 Fg–1 and 48.9 kW kg–1, respectively in 1 M LiClO4–propylene carbonate electrolyte.

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