Characterization of electrosynthesized iron diselenide thin films

Iron diselenide (FeSe2) is an interesting p-type semiconductor with a band gap of 1 eV suitable for solar cell applications. Deposition of FeSe2 thin films by electrodeposition from aqueous solutions is a low temperature and inexpensive technique. In the present work, FeSe2 thin films were deposited onto tin oxide coated conducting glass substrates by cathodic electrodeposition technique. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Scanning electron microscope and optical absorption techniques. The effects of electrolyte concentration and deposition potential on the structural, compositional, morphological and optical properties of FeSe2 thin films are studied. The experimental observations are discussed in detail.