Investigation on electrochemical deposition of Sb2Se3 thin films in aqueous acidic medium

Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) thin films were deposited on tin oxide coated glass substrates by potentiostatic electrodeposition from an acidic aqueous bath for 30 min followed by the annealing process in a tube furnace at 350 °C for 10 min under nitrogen atmosphere. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of the bath solution's pH and the applied potential on the structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of Sb2Se3 thin films. The optimal deposition conditions and bath acidity were identified to produce good quality Sb2Se3 films suitable for applications in terms of composition, crystallinity, morphology and band gap.