Chemosynthesis and physical vapor deposition of acanthite thin films: Characterization and electrochemistry explorationwe

[Display omitted] •Novel metal dithiocarbamate were synthesized in situ.•Physical vapor deposition of synthesized metal dithiocarbamate was carried out.•Remarkable crystallinity, vibrational and optical features revealed.•Favorable microstructural and thickness was obtained.•Electrochemically proficient thin films were analyzed by CV, LSV and CA. Current work reports the diethyl-ammonium dithiocarbamate based metallic chalcogenide semiconductor complexes of Ag2S-(dtc)2 [where dtc = dithiocarbamate], BaS-(dtc)2 and Ba:Ag2S-(dtc)2 in an in situ chemosynthetic route for first time. Current work is also the first investigation reporting the physical vapor deposition of pristine [Ag2S-(dtc)2]/SnO2 and doped [Ba:Ag2S-(dtc)2]/SnO2 thin films was carried out in a resistive heating unit. Synthesized complexes and thin films expressed remarkable crystalline, vibrational, optical, morphological and elemental compositional characteristics revealed from different analytical tools. X-ray diffraction disclosed the acanthite type orientation for the pristine and doped thin films with average crystallite sizes of 43.23 and 38.11 nm, respectively. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy supported a myriad of functional groups, bond types and molecular arrangements in the single source precursor synthesized complexes. The optical analysis via ultra-violet visible spectrophotometry expressed an alleviation in the both direct and indirect bandgaps from 3.9 to 3.7 eV and 3.8 to 2.7 eV determined from Tauc’s plot for the doped [Ba:Ag2S-(dtc)2]/SnO2 thin films showing the tailoring power of barium doping. Tightly packed thin films with presence of agglomerated particles were expressed by microstructural analysis done via scanning electron microscopy. Elemental profiling and thin film thickness measurement via Rutherford back scattering spectrometry supported strong signals for Ag, S and Ba with film thickness of 275 nm acquired for [Ba:Ag2S-(dtc)2]/SnO2 thin films. Profound electrochemical functionality was expressed by cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry showing the suitability of fabricated films for a wide range of optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. Current work can be extended to achieving further improvement in the optoelectronic aspects of the synthesized films before they can be practically used in different photovoltaic contraptions.