zz Chapter-VI PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL STUDIES OF Cd1-XNixSe THIN FILMS Chapter-VI 6.1 Introduction The scientific scenario of solar cells has been dominated by inorganic solid-state material device, specially doped forms of crystalline and amorphous silicon. However, this dominance is now being challenged by the emergence of a new generation of devices based on polycrystalline or nanocrystalline materials. These offer the prospect of cheaper fabrication together with other attractive features, such as flexibility.1 In the present power-crisis, all scientists are being motivated to contribute for the development of alternative solar cells using novel materials, including those related to economical as well as to health and environmental concerns. In view of this, solar energy conversion can be achieved by photoelectrochemical process which is the most intensive example of this approach. Semiconductor- electrolyte interface may be used for photoelectrolysis, photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical power generation.2-4 The direct conversion of solar energy into electrical current using semiconductorelectrolyte interface was first demonstrated by Gerischer and Eills.5-6 Since then a large number of metal as well as mixed chalcogenide and oxides have been used as photoelectrode in PEC cells. The stability and efficiency of PEC cells are mainly dependent on preparation conditions for photoelectrode, electrolyte and experimental conditions set during the experiment.7 The basic requirements of good thin film photoelectrode for PEC cells are low resisitivity and larger grain size. Large grain size leads to reduction of grain boundary area of the thin film leading to an efficient energy conversion. The low restitivity of the photoelectrode is required to minimize the series resistance of the PEC cell which leads to lower the short circuit current. 8-9 Polycrystalline semiconductor film can be used without any drastic decrease in efficiency. This is because of the intimate and perfect contact of liquid electrolyte with crystalline grains. Thus PEC cell provides an economical chemical route for trapping solar energy. It consists of a photosensitive n or ptype semiconductor electrode and a counter electrode dipped in a suitable 134 Chapter-VI electrolyte. Charge transfer takes place at equilibrium and corresponding potential difference is developed in the both phases. A Schottky barrier with a space charge ionized donor or acceptor ion is formed within the semiconductor and minority carriers which are present in too low concentration. Upon illumination of this barrier with light of suitable wavelength, electron-hole pairs are generated and separated by a barrier at the interface; holes are drawn into electrolyte whereas the electrons travel through the barrier into the semiconductor. In short-circuit condition, current is proportional to the intensity of the incident light whereas at the open circuit conditions these electrons and holes do not recombine. The alloyed/mixed semiconductor materials are known to function effectively in conversion of solar energy into electrical energy. 10-11 The properties of the mixed material can be tailored to desired level by smooth variation of the compositional parameter ‘x’. A photoelectrochemical approach of trapping solar energy has developed mostly by polycrystalline isoelectronic ternary materials such as CdZnSe, CdSSe, etc. It was therefore planned to test PEC properties of deposited Cd1-xNixSe thin films as photoelectrode with suitable electrolyte. The present chapter mainly describes the photoelectrochemical investigations on Cd1-xNixSe thin films. The results and interpretation of fabricated PEC cells can be examined in terms of current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics in dark, built-in-potential, power output curves, photo-response and spectral response. 6.2 Experimental Details 6.2.1 Fabrication of PEC Cell In the present investigation, photoelectrochemical cell was fabricated using Cd1-xNixSe thin film as photoanode, sulphide-polysulphide as an electrolyte and CoS treated graphite rod as a counter electrode. A saturated calomel electrode was used as reference electrode. Corning glass cuvette having ‘H’ shape was used to construct the cell. An electrolyte solution offers 135 Chapter-VI an advantage of stabilization against photoelectrode dissolution.12-13 The details of cell fabrications have already been discussed in section 3.5.2 6.2.2 Electrical Characterization of PEC Cell The electrical properties of PEC cell were examined in order to know about the charge transfer mechanism occurring across electrode-electrolyte interface. I-V, C-V characteristics in dark, measurement of built-in-potential, power output characteristics under illumination were studied. A wire wound potentiometer was used to vary the voltage across the junction and current flowing through the junction was measured with a current meter. The same circuit was used to determine the capacitance of the junction. The barrier height was examined from temperature dependence of reverse saturation current at different temperatures; the lighted ideality factor was calculated. The junction ideality for all the cells were determined by plotting the graph of log I versus V. Photoelectrochemical activities were studied under 30 mW/cm2 light illumination. The illumination intensity was measured by Meco Lux meter. 6.2.3 Optical Characterization of PEC Cell Photoresponse for all the samples were measured to determine the light ideality factor. The short circuit current and open circuit voltage were measured as a function of incident light intensity. Spectral response was determined by measuring the short-circuit current as well as open circuit voltage as a function of incident wavelength (400 -1000 nm). 6.3 Results and Discussion For efficient conversion of incident light into electrical energy, an ohmic contact between the photoelectrode material and the substrate is very important. A contact is said to be ohmic, if it is non-injecting and has a linear current-voltage relation in both directions.14 Therefore, the nature of contact between the photoelectrode and the substrate was examined for all samples. Fig.6.1 shows the variation plot of current with voltage. I-V relations were found to be linear in both directions, suggesting the ohmic contact between photoelectrode and substrates. 136 Chapter-VI 0.4 X=0.0 0.3 X=0.6 0.2 2 Current (mA/cm ) X=0.3 0.1 0 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 Voltage (mV) Fig.6.1 Plot of current versus voltage to evaluate nature of contact between photoelectrode and substrate. 137 Chapter-VI 6.3.1 Electrical Properties a) I-V characteristics in Dark Current-Voltage (I-V) characteristics of the PEC have been studied at 303 K. The dark voltage and dark current were found to develop. The polarity of this dark voltage was positive towards the semiconductor electrode. The dark voltage is developed due to difference between the two half cell potential of a cell; 15 E = E Cd1-xNixSe-EGraphite ----------------------------------6.1 Where ECd1-xNixSe, EGraphite are the half cell potentials of photoelectrode and counter electrode respectively. Half cell potential is developed when the electrode is directly in contact with the electrolyte. But, E Cd1-xNixSe > E Graphite ----------------------------------------6.2 After illumination of the junction, the magnitude of voltage increases with increase in positive polarity towards the thin film. The sign of this photovoltage indicates that Cd1-xNixSe is a p-type conductor which has also been proved from TEP measurement studies. Existence of some dark current shows that there is some deterioration of the photoelectrode materials in the electrolyte.16-17 Considering semiconductor/electrolyte interface as the analog of a Schottky barrier cell, the current transport through the interface is defined by Bulter-Volmer relation as; 18 I =Io {exp [(1-β)VF/RT]-exp (-βVF/RT)---------------------6.3 Where, Io is equilibrium exchange current density, V is the over voltage, β is a symmetry factor, F is Faraday constant and R is universal gas constant. A value of β equal to 0.5 indicates presence of a symmetrical barrier which results in a symmetrical I versus V curve. This interface is called nonrectifying. If β ≠ 0.5, the curves would not be symmetrical and the interface has rectifying properties called as Faradic rectification. The characteristic are non-symmetrical indicating the formation of rectifying type junction.18,19 In the present investigation, β factor was found to be greater than 0.5 for all compositions suggesting the rectifying nature of the interface. 20 The dynamic current-voltage characteristics are shown in Fig.6.2. The junction ideality 138 Chapter-VI factor (nd) can be determined from the plot of log I with voltage (mV) and the variation is shown in Fig.6.3. Linear nature of plot was used for the estimation of junction ideality factor. The ideality factor was found to be minimum for x = 0.3 composition. (Table 6.1). The higher values of nd suggest the dominance of series resistance as well as the structural imperfection induced by dissimilarity in the Cd and Ni atomic size and their resulting arrangement in the solid during lattice construction. Defect levels, introduced in this manner inside the valence band and energy gap acts as carrier traps or recombination centers. The junction ideality factor has a minimum value for x = 0.3 suggesting lowest trap density at the photoelectrode-electrolyte interface. 21 1 X=0.3 0.8 X=0.6 X=0.0 0.6 0.4 2 Current (mA/cm ) X=0.9 0.2 0 -500 -300 -100 -0.2 100 300 500 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 Voltage (mV) Fig. 6.2 Current-voltage characteristics of Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode (in dark) 139 Chapter-VI 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 -0.5 log I -1 -1.5 X=0.3 X=0.6 X=0.0 X=0.9 -2 -2.5 Voltage (mV) Fig.6.3 Plot of log I versus Voltage of Cd1-xNixSe cells. b) C-V Characteristics in Dark The C-V Characteristics of junctions provides useful information such as type of conductivity, values of flat band potential (Vfb), donor density, band bending depletion layer width position of bond edges etc. The flat band potential (Vfb) of a semiconductor gives information of the relative position of the Fermi levels in photoelectrode as well as the influence of electrolyte and charge transfer process across the junction. The intrinsic bond bending of the interface is used to determine ability of photoelectrode to operate under the short circuit condition. This is also useful to measure the maximum open circuit voltage (Voc) that can be obtained from a cell. Measured capacitance is the sum of the capacitance due to depletion layers and Helmholtz layer in electrolyte which is neglected by assuming high ionic concentration. 22 Under such circumstances, Vfb can be obtained using Mott-Schottky equation; C-2 = [2/qεε0Nd] (V- Vfb-kT/q) ----------------------------6.4 where symbols have their usual meaning. The charge space layer capacitance was measured under reverse biased condition and the flat band potential was 140 Chapter-VI obtained from the Mott-Schottky plot. The variation of C-2 with Voltage for representative samples is shown in Fig 6.4. The linear regions of these plots were extrapolated to the voltage axis, which gives the flat band potentials (Vfb). The sign of flat band potential indicates the nature of the material. In this investigation, it can be concluded that Cd1-xNixSe material with varying composition (x) is p-type. A variation of flat band potential versus composition (x) is displayed in Fig.6.5. It is observed that flat band potential is enhanced to more positive value as nickel content in the electrode increased upto x=0.3, thereafter Vfb diminishes linearly upto x=1. This may be due to decreased electron affinity as a result of introduction of Ni+2 ions in the lattice of CdSe, an increased amount of surface adsorption and creation of new donor level which shifts the Fermi level thus increasing the amount of band bending. 7 X=0.0 X=0.1 X=0.3 X=0.6 X=0.9 5 4 8 -2 4 1/C X10 (F cm ) 6 2 3 2 1 0 100 300 500 Voltage (mV Vs. SCE) 700 Fig. 6.4 1/C2 versus d.c.bias voltage of Cd1-xNixSe cells. 141 Chapter-VI 750 Vfb (mV) 650 550 450 350 250 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Composition parameter (X) Fig. 6.5 Plot of Vfb against composition parameter (x) c) Built-in-Potential Measurement The Built-in-Potential (also called barrier-height, Φβ) was determined by measuring the reverse saturation current (Io) flowing through the junction at different temperature from 363 to 303 K. The reverse saturation current flowing through junction is related to temperature as; 23 Io = AT2 exp (Φβ / kT) -----------------------------------6.5 Where, A is Richardson constant, k is Boltzmann constant, Φβ is the barrier height in eV. The reverse saturation current exhibits an exponential variation with temperature. Fig. 6.6 shows plots of log (Io/T2) versus 1000/T for representative samples. The values of built in potentials of the photoelectrode were determined from the slope of the linear region of the plots. The barrier height value decreases up to x = 0.3 (0.180 eV) and then increases. (Table 6.1) 142 Chapter-VI -7.5 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 -8 2 log (Io/T ) -8.5 -9 x=0.6 x=0.9 x=0.0 X=1.0 -9.5 x=0.3 -10 -1 1000/T (K ) Fig.6.6 Plot of log (Io/T2) with 1000/T Cd1-xNixSe cells 180 X=0.0 160 X=0.3 140 X=0.6 2 Current ( µ A/cm ) X=1.0 120 X=0.9 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 100 200 300 Voltage (mV) Fig.6.7 Power output curves for Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode 143 Chapter-VI d) Power Output Characteristics Fig.6.7 shows the photovoltaic power output characteristics of various cells recorded under 30mW/cm2 illumination intensity. The various cell parameters like open circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current (Isc), fill factor (ff), series resistance (Rs), conversion efficiency (η) and shunt resistance (Rsh) were determined. The open circuit voltage, short-circuit current, fill factor and efficiency increase up to x = 0.3, but decrease thereafter. The series resistance and shunt resistance decrease up to x = 0.3, but increase thereafter. The open circuit voltage and short-circuit current is found to be 260 mV and 161 µA/cm2 respectively. The calculations show that the fill factor is 48.12 % and conversion efficiency is 0.65 % at x = 0.3 (Table 6.1). Under constant illumination, the maximum efficiency is given by; 24 ηmax = (Vredox-Vfb) (e/Eg) -------------------------------------6.6 where symbols have usual meaning. The variation of Isc and Voc with composition parameter is shown in Fig.6.8 and 6.9. At x = 0.3, the flat band potential value is more positive as well as comparative band gap, results in enhancement in power efficiency. The high short circuit current was due to decreased photoelectrode resistance and increased the absorbance by the material. The improvement in open circuit voltage was due to increase in flat band potential. The low efficiency in the present investigation might be due to the high series resistance of the PEC cell, low thickness of the film and interface states which are responsible for the recombination mechanism.25 The series resistance and shunt resistance were calculated from the slope of the power output characteristics using the relation; (dI/dV)I = 0 = (1/Rs) --------------------------------------6.7 (dI/dV)V = 0 = (1/Rsh) -------------------------------------6.8 The values of Rs and Rsh were found to be 826 and 543 Ω respectively. The main drawback in utilizing PEC cell is the absence of space charge region at the photoelectrode-electrolyte interface. In this situation, the photogenerated charge carriers can move in both the direction. Lu and Kamat 144 Chapter-VI 26 reported that the photogenerated electrons in n-type material either recombine readily with holes or leak out into the electrolyte, instead of flowing through external circuit. The variation of fill factor and efficiency with compositional parameter (x) is shown in Fig.6.10 and Fig.6.11 respectively. 6.3.2 Optical Proprieties a) Photoresponse To study, the response of the PEC cell towards light, the cell was illuminated with light of different intensity. The open circuit voltage and short circuit current were measured as a function of light intensity. Fig.6.12 shows variation of Isc as a function of light intensity, whereas, Fig.6.13 shows the variation of Voc as a function of light intensity. The photoresponse measurements showed a logarithmic variation of open circuit voltage with the incident light intensity. However, at higher intensities, saturation in open circuit voltage was observed, which can be attributed to the saturation of the electrolyte interface, charge transfer and non-equilibrium distribution of electrons and holes in the space charge region of the photoelectrode. But short circuit current follows almost a straight line path. The photoelectrodeelectrolyte interface can be modelled as a Schottky barrier solar cell 27 and it is therefore possible to represent the current-voltage relationship as; I = Iph - Id = Iph-[Io exp (qV/ndkT)-1] ---------------------6.9 Where, I is the net current density, Iph is the photocurrent densities, Id is the dark current density, Io is the reverse saturation current density, V is the applied bias voltage and nd is the junction ideality factor. In bias voltage condition V>3kT/q and at equilibrium open circuit conditions; Iph = Id and V = Voc Thus, Voc= (nLkT/q) ln (Isc/Io) --------------------------------6.10 Where, Voc is open circuit voltage, Isc is short circuit current. As Isc >> Io, a plot of log Isc against Voc should give a straight line and from the slope of the 145 Chapter-VI Voc (mV) 300 200 100 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Composition parameter (X) Fig. 6.8 Plot of Voc with composition parameter 2 Isc (µ A/cm ) 200 150 100 50 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Composition parameter (X) Fig.6.9 Plot of Isc with composition parameter 146 Chapter-VI 50 48 %ff 46 44 42 40 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Coposition parameter (X) Fig. 6.10 Plot of %fill factor with compositional parameter 0.7 % effiencey 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 Composition parameter (X) Fig. 6.11 Plot of % efficiency with compositional parameter 147 Chapter-VI line the lighted ideality factor can be determined. The plot of log Isc with Voc for representative Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode is shown in Fig.6.14. The junction ideality factor was calculated for all the photoelectrodes and found to be minimum for Cd0.7Ni0.3Se composition. The observed value being 3.45 for x = 0.3 photoelectrode. (Table 6.1) b) Spectral Response The spectral response of photoelectrochemical cell is one of the most powerful techniques to measure the performance of the cell qualitatively. Therefore, the spectral response of a cell has been recorded in the 400 to 1000 nm wavelength range. The photocurrent action spectra were examined and are shown in Fig. 6.15 It is seen that spectra attains maximum value of current at around wavelengths 721 nm and 725 nm for CdSe and Cd0.7Ni0.3Se respectively and decreases with increase in wavelength. The decrease in current on shorter wavelength side may be due to absorption of light in the electrolyte and high surface recombination of photogenerated minority carriers. The decrease in current on longer wavelength side may be attributed to non-optimized thickness and transition between defect levels. The maximum current is obtained corresponding to λ = 721 nm and λ = 775 nm giving band gap value 1.72 eV for CdSe and 1.60 eV for Cd.0.7Ni0.3Se agreeing with the results of optical absorption studies. The various PEC cell characteristics such as Voc, Isc, η%, ff%, Φβ, Vfb, Rs, Rsh, nL, nd are cited in Table 6.1 for Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode. 148 Chapter-VI 250 x=0.0 x=0.9 2 Isc (µ A/cm ) 200 x=0.6 x=0.3 150 100 50 0 0 20 40 60 Light intensity (mW/cm2 ) Fig. 6.12 Plot of Isc with light intensity of Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode 250 x=0.0 x=0.9 x=0.6 x=0.3 Voc (mV) 200 150 100 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 2 Light intensity (mW/cm ) Fig. 6.13 Plot of Voc with light intensity of Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode 149 Chapter-VI -3 log Isc 50 150 250 350 -4 X=0.0 X=0.9 X=0.6 X=0.3 -5 Voc (mV) Fig.6.14 Plot of log Isc with Voc for Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode 50 x=0.3 x=0.6 2 Isc (µA/cm ) 40 x=0.9 x=0.0 30 20 10 0 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 Wavelength (nm) Fig. 6.15 Plot of Isc with wavelength for Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode 150 Chapter-VI Table 6.1 PEC cell performance parameters of Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode Composition. Voc Isc (mV) (µA/cm2) η % ff % Фβ (eV) Rsh Rs (mV) (Ω) (Ω) Vfb nL nd CdSe 210 132 0.37 40.86 0.234 549 640 974 5.56 4.84 Cd0.9Ni0.1Se 228 135 0.43 44.65 0.216 590 630 959 4.48 4.78 Cd0.8Ni0.2Se 244 142 0.55 46.25 0.119 659 607 923 3.79 4.73 Cd0.7Ni0.3Se 260 161 0.65 48.12 0.180 710 543 826 2.89 4.64 Cd0.6Ni0.4Se 240 148 0.56 47.15 0.182 652 586 892 2.98 4.72 Cd0.5Ni0.5Se 230 145 0.48 46.26 0.184 575 596 908 3.18 4.81 Cd0.4N0.6Se 220 142 0.40 45.12 0.185 526 607 923 3.48 4.87 Cd0.3Ni0.7Se 205 125 0.36 44.54 0.187 469 664 1010 3.94 5.02 Cd0.2Ni0.8Se 194 109 0.30 43.63 0.189 421 718 1092 4.43 5.21 Cd0.1Ni0.9Se 179 101 0.23 42.75 0.190 362 745 1133 4.88 5.42 NiSe 160 71 0.15 41.89 0.195 304 846 1287 5.37 5.61 151 Chapter-VI 6.4 Conclusions The PEC cell can be easily fabricated using Cd1-xNixSe photoelectrode, sulphide-polysulphide as electrolyte and CoS treated graphite rod as a counter electrode. A saturated calomel electrode was used as reference electrode. 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