@Article{CL.2023.206.399,
AUTHOR = {I. Nkrumah, F. K. Ampong, A. Britwum, M. Paal, B. Kwakye-Awuah, R. K. Nkum, F. Boakye},
TITLE = {The effect of the concentration of tin (Sn) in the metallic precursor, on the structure, morphology, optical and electrical properties of electrochemically deposited lead-tinsulphide  (PbSnS) thin films},
JOURNAL = {Chalcogenide Letters},
VOLUME = {20},
YEAR = {2023},
NUMBER = {6},
PAGES = {399--407},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/CL/v20n6/65280},
ISSN = {1584-8663},
ABSTRACT = {A study has been carried out to investigate the effect of the concentration of Sn in the 
metallic precursor on the structure, morphology, optical and electrical properties of PbSnS 
thin films. The films were directly electrodeposited on ITO-coated glass substrates using a 
3-electrode electrochemical cell having graphite as the counter electrode and Ag/AgCl as 
the reference electrode. Several depositions were carried out, with each deposited film 
having a different concentration of Sn in the metallic precursor whilst all other parameters 
were kept constant for all the films. Post deposition annealing was carried out in air at 250 o
C for an hour. A variety of techniques were used to characterize the films. Results 
showed that the increase in Sn concentration did not modify the structure and preferred 
orientation of the films. However, it caused a slight increase in the average grain size of 
the films and electrical conductivity. All the films showed direct transition with the 
optical band gap reducing with increasing Sn concentration. The refractive index of the 
films showed anomalous dispersion behaviour within the UV region, and normal 
dispersion in the visible and infrared regions, whilst following an increasing trend with the 
grain size. SEM image showed spherically shaped grains of different sizes distributed 
randomly with good coverage across the entire area of the substrate. The EDAX spectrum 
was consistent with formation of the ternary PbSnS compound on ITO-coated glass 
substrate. Overall results indicate that, the optical and electrical properties of the 
electrochemically deposited PbSnS thin films can be tuned to make them suitable for 
specific applications by varying the concentration of Sn in the metallic precursor.},
DOI = {10.15251/CL.2023.206.399}
}