Properties study of pure titanium oxide and cadmium doped thin films using chemical spray pyrolysis method and their effect on solar cell

The chemical spray pyrolysis technique was used to deposit pure titanium dioxide and cadmium-doped films on two types of substrates (glass and silicon) at a constant temperature of 400 °C. Several tests were performed to study the effect of cadmium doping on the physical properties of the manufactured films. The results of the XRD pattern showed that the thin films of pure TiO2 doped with cadmium had a polycrystalline structure and the growth in the (101) direction prevailed, and the average crystal size (G) was in the range of (10.44–11.46) nm. Atomic force microscopy was used to calculate grain parameters. The addition of cadmium resulted in decreased particle size, surface roughness and root mean square. By studying the optical properties of the formed films, we notice that the films have high transmittance, and this transmittance increases for all films with increasing wavelengths. A general decrease in permeability is observed with increasing doping from 0 to 3% cadmium. The calculated energy gap values ​​for the formed films were (3.43 to 3.31 eV). The conversion efficiency values ​​for the resulting composition were calculated, and it was found that the high value was 1.12% at a grafting ratio of 3% and a filling factor of 0.42.