TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
DECLARATION DEDICATION
ABSTRACT i
ABSTRAK ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF APPENDICES ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS x
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS xii
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background
1 1.2
Problem Statement 4
1.3 Research Objectives
6 1.4
Significance of the Research 6
1.5 Structure of the Thesis
7
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
8
2.1 Introduction
8 2.2
Energy Resources 8
2.2.1 Solar Energy 10
2.3 Photoelectrochemical Solar Cell PEC Application
11 2.3.1 PEC Mechanism
13 2.4
Semiconductor Compounds and Alloys 13
2.4.1 Transition Metal Chalcogenide Compounds 13
2.5 Thin Film Technology
16 2.6
Thin Film Preparation Method 18
2.6.1 Electrodeposition Method 19
2.6.2 Cyclic Voltammetry CV Study 21
2.6.3 Kinetic Growth of Thin Film-Electrochemistry 22
2.6.4 ‘Ion-by-ion’ Growth Mechanism 23
2.7 Properties of Electrodeposited Thin Film
24 2.7.1 Structural Properties
24 2.7.2 Surface Morphology Properties
27 2.7.3 Optical Properties
27 2.7.4 Electrical Semiconductor Parameters
30 2.8
Summary 33
iv
3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
35
3.1 Introduction
35 3.2
Substrate Preparation 37
3.3 Electrolyte Preparation as NiX
2
X= S,Se Films 37
Precursors 3.4
Thin Films Synthesis via Electrodeposition 38
3.4.1 Cyclic Voltammetry Measurement 38
3.4.2 Electrodeposition of NiX
2
X=S,Se Thin Films 39
3.5 Characterization of Electrodeposited Thin Films
39 3.5.1 Thickness of Electrodeposited Thin Films 39
3.5.2 X-Ray Diffraction XRD Analysis 40
3.5.3 Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM 41
3.5.4 Energy Dispersive X-Ray EDX Analysis 41
3.6 Optical Properties of Electrodeposited Thin Films
41 3.7
Mott-Schottky Analysis of Electrodeposited Thin Films 42 3.8
Summary 42
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
43
4.1 Thin Films Synthesis via Electrodeposition
43 4.1.1 Cyclic Voltammetry Measurements
43 4.2
Characterization of Electrodeposited Thin Films 46
4.2.1 Thickness of Electrodeposited NiS
2
and NiSe
2
46 Thin Films
4.2.2 Structural Analysis of Electrodeposited NiS
2
and 48 NiSe
2
Thin Films 4.2.3 Surface Morphology Studies of Electrodeposited 54
NiS
2
and NiSe
2
Thin Films 4.2.4 Compositional Analysis of Electrodeposited NiS
2
57 and NiSe
2
Thin Films 4.3
Optical Properties of Electrodeposited NiS
2
and NiSe
2
61 Thin Films
4.4 Semiconductor Parameters of Electrodeposited NiS
2
65 and NiSe
2
Thin Films 4.5
Summary 70
5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
