Photochemical Deposition of Semiconductor Thin Films and Their Application for Solar Cells and Gas Sensors

The photochemical deposition (PCD) technique was applied for solar cells and gas sensors. CdS and Cd1-xZnxS were deposited by PCD. Thiosulfate ions S2O32- act as a reductant and a sulfur source. The SnS absorption layer was deposited by three-step pulse electrochemical deposition. For the CdS/SnS structure, the best cell showed an efficiency of about 0.2%, while for the Cd1-xZnxS/SnS structure, an efficiency of up to 0.7% was obtained. For the gas sensor application, SnO2 was deposited by PCD from a solution containing SnSO4 and HNO3. To enhance the sensitivity to hydrogen, Pd was doped by the photochemical doping method. The current increased by a factor of 104 upon exposure to 5000 ppm hydrogen within 1 min at room temperature. 103 times conductivity increase was observed even for 50 ppm hydrogen.