Preparation of CIGS thin films by electrodeposition method using ethanol as a solvent

Abstract

We prepared copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin films by potentiostatic electrodeposition in an ethanol solution. The thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible-near infrared (UV-VIS-NIR) spectrophotometry to determine their morphology, composition, crystal structure, and absorption properties. The results show that the chalcopyrite structured CuIn0.7Ga0.3Se2 thin films can be obtained by annealing the electrodeposited films at -1.6 V (vs SCE) at 450 °C. The obtained thin film has uniform morphology, good crystallinity, and a bandgap of about 1.17 eV. We found that ethanol as a solvent can effectively avoid the hydrogen evolution phenomenon, which often occurs in aqueous solution and reduces the deposition potential limitation. © Editorial office of Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica.