Effect of Complexing Agents on Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) Deposition for Buffer Layer Application in Solar Cells
Keywords:
Cadmium sulfide, chemical bath deposition, complexing agent, buffer layer, thin-film solar cellsAbstract
This study explored the use of acetylacetone as a supplementary co-complexing agent alongside ammonia, rather than as a sole or replacement complexing agent, deposited by chemical bath deposition (CBD), and systematically investigated and compared the effects of films deposited with acetylacetone against those deposited without it. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure of both samples, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed quasi-spherical nanoparticles with average grain sizes of 50 – 100 nm and a binary chemical composition, with no detectable impurity phases. In comparison, atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed an anisotropic surface topography, with elongated ridge features confined to a peak-to-valley height of ~27 nm. The bandgap studies using Tauc plot analysis explored the optical bandgap values. The Hall effect measurements of the acetylacetone-modified film confirmed n-type conductivity with a free electron concentration of 4.02 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻³, Hall mobility of 49.2 cm²/V·s, and electrical resistivity of 3.78 × 10⁶ Ω·cm, collectively indicating a high-quality, low-defect-density semiconductor. The results demonstrate that acetylacetone serves as an effective co-complexing agent, markedly improving the optoelectronic properties of CBD-CdS films for buffer-layer integration in heterojunction solar cells.
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