Simplistic development and characterization of S/Se based metal chalcogenides for energy applications : Development of S/Se based metal chalcogenides

Abstract

Tellurium, sulfur and selenium elements are used to form the chalcogenide compounds by reaction of one or two of these elements with a metal. Such metal chalcogenides (e.g., PbS, CdS, SnS, SnSe and CuS etc.) are emerging as advanced energy materials owing to their efficient performance in various engineering applications including photocatalysis, solar cells, batteries and water splitting. In current study, S/Se based metal chalcogenide based compounds and composites (MCCs) were synthesized through facile fabrication techniques such as chemical bath deposition (CBD) and successive ion layer adsorption reaction (SILAR). We successfully, synthesized SnS, SnSe and CuS as well as their composites (e.g., SnSe/SnS), optimized the corresponding chemical recipes and characterized the compounds/composites using material characterization tools. Extensive field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was used to reveal the morphology and the elemental composition respectively, while X-ray diffraction spectrometry, thermograviometery were employed to analyze the crystalline nature and thermal behavior of synthesized MCCs. All the MCCs were additionally characterized using particle size analysis. Furthermore, synthesized MCCs were employed to degrade the toxic organic dye and their appreciable performance was divulged in the light of mechanism of photocatalysis.