Optical and structural study of electrodeposited zinc selenide thin films

This paper reports a study of the electrodeposition of ZnSe on Pt electrodes in a sulfuric acid solution at pH 2.0 with the purpose of producing stoichiometric films. The film's properties were evaluated for different Zn/Se ratios. The films were deposited at different potentials (− 0.2, − 0.5, − 0.7 and − 0.9 V) and characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and non-contact 3D optical profilometry (3D-OP). Band gap, photocurrent, carrier number and flat-band potentials were determined. The films with higher photocurrent, carrier number, and crystallinity were obtained at − 0.9 V; these films were p-type and presented 1:1 stoichiometry.

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