Electrochemical properties of Bi2Se3 layers semiconductor elaborated by electrodeposition

The semiconductor, Bi2Se3 layers was electrochemically deposited on Indium Tin Oxide substrate (ITO) from a nitric acid, Bi (NO3)3 center dot 5H2O and H2SeO3 solution. The results of the electrochemical behavior of Bi2Se3 were as follows: Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies revealed that the electrodeposition of Bi2Se3 was performed at a neg-ative potential of -0.22 V vs SCE, according to a quasi-reversible reaction controlled by the diffusion process. Chronoamperometry (CA) showed that the electrodeposition of Bi2Se3 follows a 3D instantaneous nucleation model with diffusion-controlled growth. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the resulting layers at -0.22 V vs SCE exhibited a Rhombohedral Bi2Se3 structure with a preferred orientation (113) and the 2:3 sto-ichiometric ratio of Bi and Se was checked by EDS quantitative analysis. SEM images revealed the formation of a uniform size mainly consisting of nanoparticles with spherical shapes. The Bi2Se3 obtained layers are n-type semiconductors with an optical band gap of 2.35 eV.