Influence of pH of the electrolyte on the formation and properties of electrodeposited ZrSe₂ thin films

Abstract

Zirconium diselenide thin films were electrodeposited on the stainless steel substrates for various pH values ranging from 2.0 to 3.5. The deposition potential range suitable for the deposition has been optimized using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results confirm that the thin films produced were polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal structure peak at 2θ = 43.8° (003) of ZrSe₂. The surface morphology of the film indicate, as the pH was increased the grain size of the film become larger due to agglomeration. The direct band gap energy of the films was found to be in the range of 1.77–1.83 eV.

Keywords:

• Cyclic voltammetry
• pH variation
• electrodeposition
• AFM
• band gap energy

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the DST -FIST and UGC-SAP-DRS II for providing financial aid for XRD and Electrochemical workstation (CHI 604E USA) to the Department of Physics, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and also the Postgraduate and Research Department of Chemistry, V.O.C College, Thoothukudi for providing AFM and UV–Vis-DRS facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.