Investigation Of the Effectiveness Of N, N-Dimethylformamide as A Solvent for CdTe Electrodeposition
Date of Award
12-6-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Environmental Sciences, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Bruce Johnson
Committee Members
Brandon Kemp; Gauri Guha; Robert Engelken; Ross Carroll
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2017 V36
Abstract
The goal of this dissertation project was to investigate the viability of N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent for CdTe electrodeposition. The Taguchi Method was used to design a minimal set of experiments to determine this. The factors chosen were deposition voltage, solution composition, stir rate, and temperature. There were a total of nine experiments and 18 samples produced (2 per experiment). Optical absorbance data was collected for each film to approximate the bandgap of the material. This data was used to determine the optimal set of conditions and the relative significance of each factor to one another. It was found that the deposition voltage was the most significant factor, followed closely by the solution composition and temperature. The stir rate was found to have very little effect on the results. While the results appeared quite promising, the viability of DMF for industrial applications is low. Precipitates formed within the solutions used after two days due most likely to atmospheric moisture entering the solvent and reacting with TeCl4 to form TeO2. Avoiding this issue would require measures that are not necessary with current methods that rely on aqueous baths.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Vangilder, Joshua Aaron, "Investigation Of the Effectiveness Of N, N-Dimethylformamide as A Solvent for CdTe Electrodeposition" (2017). Student Theses and Dissertations. 555.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/555
