Study of solar power conversion using electrochemical photovoltaic semiconducting n-CdSe<inf>0.7</inf>Te<inf>0.3</inf> thin film/ferro-ferricyanide electrolyte junction

Polycrystalline thin films of semiconducting n-CdSe0.7Te0.3 of 5000 angstroms were deposited in 5×10-5 torr by thermal flash evaporation of the powdered bulk alloy at 20±1 angstrom/s on highly conducting In2O3 precoated microslide glass plates held at 200 °C. XRD showed that thin films have a hexagonal structure. Optical absorption studies showed the band gap to be direct. Three electrode configuration of electrochemical photovoltaic (ECPV) solar cell comprising of saturated calomel electrode, graphite and n-CdSe0.7Te0.3 semiconducting thin film photoanode was used. The as-grown films were found to be photoactive in conjunction with (aq)0.1 M K4Fe(CN)6+(aq)0.3 M K3Fe(CN)6+(aq)0.3 M KOH redox electrolyte.