One-pot electrodeposition, characterization and photoactivity of stoichiometric copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin films for solar cells

Abstract

Herein we report the one-pot electrodeposition of copper indium gallium diselenide, CuIn(1-x)Ga(x)Se(2) (CIGS), thin films as the p-type semiconductor in an ionic liquid medium consisting of choline chloride/urea eutectic mixture known as Reline. The thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman microspectroscopy, and UV-visible spectroscopy. Based on the results of the characterizations, the electrochemical bath recipe was optimized to obtain stoichiometric CIGS films with x between 0.2 and 0.4. The chemical activity and photoreactivity of the optimized CIGS films were found to be uniform using scanning electrochemical microscopy and scanning photoelectrochemical microscopy. Low-cost stoichiometric CIGS thin films in one-pot were successfully fabricated.