Tin selenide were prepared chemically in alkaline aqueous solution. The crystalline powder was coated onto microscope glass slides using polyvinyl alcohol solution. The coatings were subjected to annealing at various temperatures to study the effect towards the structure, morphology and composition of the material. The product prepared was characterised using various techniques. The photoresponse for the samples were also studied. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell configuration was p-SnSe | (0.01 M K4Fe(CN)6¾0.01 M K3Fe(CN)6.3H2O¾0.1 M Na2SO4| Pt).

Nickel selenide thin films have been potentiostatically electrodeposited on titanium substrate at room temperature from aqueous solution containing Ni-EDTA and Na 2 SeO 3 . Various deposition potentials were attempted in order to determine the optimum electrodeposition potential. The films were characterised using x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and the photoactivity of the electrosynthesised films were studied using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The band-gap energy was determined using UV-visible spectroscopy. The XRD analysis indicated the formation of polycrystalline Ni 3 Se 2 . The film exhibited p-type semiconductor behaviour with good photosensitivity. The bandgap energy (E g ) was about 1.4eV.

In this work the synthesis of copper tin sulfide thin films by electrodeposition is carried out. The films were deposited onto ITO glass substrates from anaqueous solution bath containingcopper sulfate, tin chloride and sodium thiosulfate at pH 1 and room temperature. Prior to the deposition, a cyclic voltammetry experiment was carried out between two potential limits (+1000 to -1000 mV versus Ag/AgCl) to probe the effect of the applied potential and to determine the most likely suitable electrodeposition potential for the deposition of copper tin sulfide. The deposition was attempted at various cathodic potentials such as -400, -600, -800, -1000 mV to determine the optimum deposition potential. The films have been characterized by techniques such as optical absorption, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The XRD patterns show that the films are polycrystalline with orthorhombic structure. The AFMstudies reveal the electrodeposited films were smooth, compact and uniform at deposition potentials of –600 mV versus Ag/AgCl. The direct optical band-gap energy was obtained to be 1.58 eV.

ABSTRACTSuperabsorbent polymers (SAPs) were synthesized by grafting acrylic acid and butyl acrylate onto carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) modified from Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. (kapok) cotton, with N,N′‐methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinker and ammonium persulphate as initiator. The effect of distilled water, saline solution, and applied pressure on superabsorbent was investigated. The product exhibited the maximum water absorbency of 554 g/g in distilled water and 96 g/g in saline solution. The SAP achieved the highest water absorbency under load of 83 g/g under applied pressure of 7.6 g/cm2. The kapok cotton modified cellulose‐based SAP exhibited stronger gel strength than the SAP based on commercial CMC. This is probably due to the higher grafting efficiency (78.3%) of the former. The SAP was characterized by FTIR analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis results showed that the SAP, with AA and BA grafted onto CMC, had better thermal stability than CMC alone. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40808.

Cyclic voltammetry studies of copper (II) and tellurium (IV) ions in acidic aqueous solutions were carried out to determine the optimum condition for copper telluride thin film deposition. The voltammetry studies include reversible scans at different solution pH. Based on the voltammogram, suitable deposition conditions was determined to be in the range of -0.35 V to -0.45 V versus Ag/AgCl at pH values between 2.0 to 2.2 under non diffusion-limited conditions.

Tin selenide thin films have been prepared by a simple and highly reproducible chemical bath deposition method. The effect of various bath temperatures was study. The surface topography of the films has been analysed by means of the atomic force microscopy. We have observed a very strong dependence of the surface roughness, film thickness and grain size on the growth temperature. Smaller grain size, thinner and smoother films could be observed for the films deposited at lower bath temperature.

CuS thin films were deposited onto microscope glass substrates using the chemical bath deposition method in the presence of tartaric acid as a complexing agent. The objective of this paper was to study the influence of the deposition time on the morphology of thin films. The surface morphology of the thin films was investigated using atomic force microscopy. The thin films deposited for the shortest time were found to be uniform, without cracks and with a dense surface morphology covering the entire substrate surface area. However, the films prepared for 60 min and above indicated incomplete coverage of the material over the substrate surface. The surface roughness and film thickness values that were observed depended mainly on the deposition time.

CuS thin films were deposited onto microscope glass slide by chemical bath deposition method. Recently , chemical bath deposition method became very popular method due to some advantages such as simple, low cost, abi lity to cover large substrate areas and can operate at low processing temperature. In this study, aqueous solu tions of copper sulphate, thiourea and tartaric acid have been used as precursors during deposition process. In this e xperiment, the solution concentration was varied from 0.05 to 0.2 M in order to investigate the optimum conditions fo r the preparation of CuS thin films. The structural, morp hological, compositional and optical characterizati on of the films were carried out by X-ray diffraction, scanning ele ctron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis X-ray and UVVisible spectrophotometer, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed the polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal crystal. The dense morphology of CuS films with homogeneous grains could be observed for the films deposited using 0.2 M of solution concentration. Th ese films also exhibited higher absorption value as compared with other solution concentrations.

In this study, chemical bath deposition has been used to prepare tin sulfide thin films on microscope glass slides from acidic aqueous solution. The effect of bath temperature on the properties of thin films was investigated using atomic force microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Atomic force microscopy image for the films deposited at 80 degrees C revealed that all grains uniformly distributed over the surface of substrate indicated well defined growth of SnS material. Optical absorption showed the presence of direct transition and band gap energy decreased from 1.5 to 1.2 eV with the increased of bath temperature from 40 to 80 degrees C.

CuS thin films were deposited onto microscope glass slide by chemical bath deposition method. Recently , chemical bath deposition method became very popular method d ue to some advantages such as simple, low cost, abi li y to cover large substrate areas and can operate at low processing temperature. In this study, aqueous solu tions of copper sulphate, thiourea and tartaric acid have been used a precursors during deposition process. In this e xperiment, the solution concentration was varied from 0.05 to 0.2 M in order to investigate the optimum conditions fo r the preparation of CuS thin films. The structural, morp hological, compositional and optical characterizati on of the films were carried out by X-ray diffraction, scanning ele ctron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis X-ray and UVVisible spectrophotometer, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed the polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal crystal. The dense morphology of CuS film s with homogeneous grains could be observed for the films deposited using 0.2 M of solution concentration. Th ese films also exhibited higher absorption value as compared with other solution concentrations. Key-Words: Chemical bath deposition, Copper sulphide, Thin fil ms, Solution concentrations Introduction In search of new semiconducting materials for solar energy conversion through photoelectrochemical cell s, metal chalcogenide thin films are increasingly stud ied. Thin films have been prepared by various techniques such as spray pyrolysis , pulsed laser deposition , vacuum evaporation , electrodeposition method , electron beam evaporation , chemical bath deposition 6 and SILAR method . Here, chemical bath deposition method was used for the deposition of copper sulphi de thin films due to some advantages such as low mater ial cost, low temperature and convenient for larger are a deposition of thin films. So far, a number of thin films such as CdSe , ZnS, PbS, NiS, Bi2S3 , ZnIn2Se4 , Pb1-xFexS , CdS1-xSex 15 and ZnxCd1-xS 16 prepared using chemical bath deposition method have been reported by many researchers. * Corresponding Author: E-mail: anuar@science.upm.edu.my Tel: +60389466779 Fax: +60389435380 In the present work, we report the chemical bath deposition of CuS films from acidic solutions. The influence of solution concentration (0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 M) on the films is investigated for the first time for the deposition of CuS thin films in the presence of tar taric acid as complexing agent. The results of the investigation on structural, morphological, compositional and optical properties of CuS thin fi lms have been carried out by using XRD, SEM, EDAX and UV-Vis techniques, respectively. Material and methods All the chemicals used for the deposition were analytical grade and all the solutions were prepare d in deionised water (Alpha-Q Millipore). The copper sulphide thin films were prepared from an acidic ba th using aqueous solutions of copper sulphate (CuSO 4) and thiourea (CS(NH 2)2) acted as a source of Cu 2+ and S ions, respectively. The tartaric acid was used as complexing agent during the deposition process. The microscope glass slides were used as the substrate for the chemical bath deposition of CuS thin film. Befo r deposition, the glass substrates were degreased wit h ethanol for 10 min. Then, ultrasonically cleaned wi th Research Article [Kassim et al., 2(11): Nov., 2011]

Lead selenide thin films were prepared by chemical bath deposition method using aqueous of lead nitrate, sodium selenate and sodium tartrate. The influence of bath temperature towards the properties of the thin films was studied. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The XRD results confirmed the polycrystalline cubic structure of PbSe films. The intensity of major peak at 2 circle minus = 25.1 degrees which belonged to (111) plane of PbSe, increased with bath temperature from 40 to 80 degrees C. The SEM micrographs showed that the most homogeneous surface and larger grain sizes could be seen for the films deposited at 80 degrees C as compared with other bath temperatures.

Cu2S thin films were produced by simple chemical bath deposition technique at various bath temperatures ranging from 55 °C to 75 °C. For chemical bath deposited thin films, copper sulphate solution was employed as Cu2+ source while thiourea solution provided the S2- ions. The morphological, compositional and optical properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis of X-ray and UV-Visible spectrophotometer, respectively. The grain size and average atomic ratio of Cu/S increased when the bath temperature was increased from 55 °C to 75 °C. The films deposited at 75 °C indicated high absorbance as compared with other bath temperatures.

Cyclic voltammetry studies in aqueous solution were found to offer some noteworthy information in the electrodeposition synthesis of cadmium zinc sulfide thin film. The studies were performed at low pH, room temperature and fixed solution concentration. Suitable deposition potential ranges were obtained from this analysis. Cadmium zinc sulfide thin films were deposited at different potentials to determine optimum deposition potential. Scanning electron microscope images of deposited thin film show improved nucleation rate and crystal growth at higher deposition potential. Key words: Cadmium zinc sulfide, pH, cyclic voltammetry, synthesis.

PbSe thin films were grown onto glass substrates by chemical bath deposition method. Structure and surface morphology of thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The band gap energy and type of optical transition were determined from optical absorbance data. The deposition parameters were optimized to obtain good quality of thin films. X-ray diffraction indicates that the films have cubic structure. The SEM micrograph showed the films do not cover the glass substrate completely and consisted of irregular shaped grains. The films show good optical properties with high absorption in the visible region and the band gap value was estimated to be 1.3 eV.