Physical properties of AgIn5S8 polycrystalline films fabricated by solution growth technique

Polycrystalline ternary AgIn5S8 films were deposited on indium–tin-oxide coated glass substrates by using chemical bath deposition. New procedures for the growth of films are presented. The solutions containing silver nitrate, indium nitrate, triethanolamine, ammonium nitrate, and thioacetamide under acidic conditions were used for the deposition of AgIn5S8 polycrystalline films. The influences of various deposition parameters on structural, optical, and electrical properties of films have been investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns show cubic AgIn5S8 is the major crystalline phase. With different substrates, the different crystalline phases were observed. The band gaps and carrier densities of these samples determined from transmittance spectra, electrochemical and Hall measurements are in the range of 1.73–1.85 eV and 4.35 × 1014 to 6.53 × 1014 cm−3, respectively. The flat band potentials of these samples are located between −0.31 and −0.41 V versus normal hydrogen electrode by using the Mott–Schottky measurements. All samples indicated n-type conductivities by electrochemical and Hall measurements. The maximum photocurrent density of samples prepared in this study was found to be 4.5 mA cm−2 under the illumination using a 300 Xe lamp system with the light intensity kept at 100 mW cm−2.