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Abstract
Currently, global research is being carried out to develop new materials with suitable properties for manufacturing photovoltaic devices to obtain energy from renewable sources and replace conventional ones. For environmental reasons, the materials should be non-polluting and abundant, and zinc sulfide (ZnS) meets these requirements. In this context, we synthesized ZnS thin films using the sol-gel method aiming at evaluating the effect of some zinc and sulfur precursors, complexing agents, and thermal treatment on ZnS obtention. The resulting solids were treated in an oxidizing atmosphere and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to establish the most suitable reaction protocol for ZnS preparation. Based on these results we were able to deposit ZnS coatings on glass-quartz substrates using the spin-coating technique. The films were also subjected to heat treatment based on gaseous nitrogen and elemental sulfur. ZnS coatings were characterized through XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-Ray dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Our results showed that the films deposited had suitable properties to be used as a buffer layer in solar cells.
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