Effect of seed layer on surface morphological, structural and optical properties of CdO thin films fabricated by an electrochemical deposition technique

•Electrochemical deposition of CdO thin films by galvanostatic and potentiostatic processes.•Optical properties of CdO thin films.•Effects of seed layer on some physical properties of CdO thin films.

Cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films were grown on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates by an electrochemical deposition technique using CdCl2⋅6H2O (0.02 M) and KCl (0.1 M) solutions at a bath temperature of 70 °C and a pH of 6.0. The CdO thin films were produced without seed layers and with seed layers. The surface morphological and structural properties of the CdO thin films were studied by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The optical properties of the samples were studied by UV–VIS spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction results revealed that the crystallite sizes of the CdO thin films produced using seed layers at currents of −600 μA and −800 μA were 60.9 and 53.0 nm, respectively. However, the crystallite size of the CdO thin film produced without a seed layer at a potential of –0.71 V was 56.9 nm. Furthermore, the energy band gaps of the CdO thin films produced using seed layers at currents of −600 μA and −800 μA were 2.140 and 2.283 eV, respectively, while the energy band gap of the CdO thin film produced without a seed layer at a potential of −0.71 V was 2.215 eV.