Electrochemical Synthesis and Characterisation of ZrSe2 Thin Films

Polycrystalline ZrSe2 thin films have been electrodeposited on stainless steel and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated conducting glass substrate from an aqueous acidic bath using zirconyl nitrate as a zirconium ion source and selenium dioxide as a selenium ion source. The deposited films have been characterized by using optical absorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDAX). X- ray diffraction (XRD), studies reveals that films are polycrystalline with hexagonal crystal structure. Surface morphology studies by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the grains are uniformly distributed over the entire surface of substrate. EDAX studies indicate that the zirconium diselenide films are stiochiometric. ZrSe2 is n-type semiconductor and room temperature electrical conductivity is 16.34 ohm-1cm-1. The optical absorption study shows direct transition having band gap energy 1.65 eV