1. Influence of the film thickness on the photovoltaic properties of chemically deposited CdS thin films: Application to the photodegradation of orange II
- Author
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G. Rekhila, Mohamed Trari, A. Mahdjoub, M. Izerrouken, and H. Moualkia
- Subjects
Materials science ,Constant phase element ,Band gap ,Mechanical Engineering ,Analytical chemistry ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Reaction rate constant ,Mechanics of Materials ,General Materials Science ,Grain boundary ,Nyquist plot ,Thin film ,Photodegradation ,Chemical bath deposition - Abstract
The influence of the thickness on the optical, structural and morphological properties of CdS thin films elaborated by chemical bath deposition is studied. The deposition time varies between 15 and 75 min and the optical measurements show that the films have high optical transmission (85%). The band gap presents a maximum of 2.44 eV for a deposition time of 30 min which corresponds to a lower disorder. The deposition rate ( n type conductivity with a flat band potential of −0.95 V SCE and an electron density of 1.43×10 25 m −3 . The Nyquist plot shows the predominant contribution of the grain boundaries; the data are modeled to an equivalent circuit with a constant phase element. As application, orange II is oxidized via radicals and the best photoactivity is obtained at pH~7. 68% of orange II disappears in ~1 h under solar light (AM 1). The oxidation follows a zero order kinetic with a rate constant of 0.11 mol L −1 min −1 .
- Published
- 2014