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Herein, we report the structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of undoped and Ti-doped SnS2 thin films deposited on glass substrate by sol–gel spin coating technique. Grazing-Incidence X-ray diffraction and Raman analyses confirm the formation of hexagonal phase of as-deposited films. The structural parameters were estimated through GI-XRD data and found to be varying with Ti4+ concentration. Field effect scanning electron microscopy images show as-grown spherical nanoparticles with uniform deposition on the entire glass substrate. The UV–Vis absorption spectra were recorded to explore the optical properties of films. The analysis of data revealed the semiconductor nature of as-deposited films with a band gap of 2.24 eV in case of undoped SnS2. An intermediate band was also observed at 5 and 20 mol% Ti4+ concentration which directly indicates the extension of light absorption ability from visible to near infrared region of the solar spectrum. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis was performed to confirm the existence of constituent elements in the as-deposited films with their oxidation state. The electrical properties were explored by I–V and Hall Effect measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, structural and optical properties of Cu2MSnS4 (M = Co and Fe) nanoparticles synthesized by ultrasonic-assisted sol–gel method using two different solvents are studied. XRD study shows the nanoparticles with tetragonal kesterite structure and crystallite size in the range of 4–7 nm. XPS study reveals the oxidation state of constituent elements. The optical band gap and textural properties like surface area and pore size are estimated through UV–VIS–NIR and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analyses. Highlights: Quaternary Cu2MSnS4 (M = Co & Fe) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using two different solvents by ultrasonic assisted sol–gel method. The as-synthesized material shows good optical response from UV to NIR region of the solar spectrum. The good optical response along with its large BET surface area to volume ratio suggests that the synthesized material can have potential application as an absorber layer in a thin-film solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]