Close-Spaced Sublimation of CdZnTe:In Films for Solar Energy Water Splitting

CdZnTe:In (CZT:In) films were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide-coated (FTO) substrates by close-spaced sublimation method, and the structural, morphological, and optical properties of CZT:In films with different thicknesses were studied in detail. Working as a photoanode, the photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties of CZT:In films were investigated, which indicated that the photocurrents of CZT:In films were first increased and then decreased with the increase of film thicknesses under the same bias voltage. Annealing process improved the stability of the CZT:In photoanode. The fabrication of FTO/CZT:In/Pt and FTO/CZT:In/TiO2/Pt photoelectrodes enhanced the PEC properties of CZT:In films and achieved photocurrents of up to 4.2 and 8.2 mA/cm(2), respectively.