Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) thin films were prepared using pure silane (SiH₄) and ethane (C₂H₆), a novel carbon source, without hydrogen dilution using hot wire chemical vapour deposition (HW-CVD) method at low substrate temperature (200 °C) and at reasonably higher deposition rate (19.5 Å/s < 𝑟_d < 35.2 Å/s). Formation of a-SiC:H films has been confirmed from FTIR, Raman and XPS analysis. Influence of deposition pressure on compositional, structural, optical and electrical properties has been investigated. FTIR spectroscopy analysis revealed that there is decrease in C–H and Si–H bond densities while, Si–C bond density increases with increase in deposition pressure. Total hydrogen content drops from 22.6 to 14.4 at.% when deposition pressure is increased. Raman spectra show increase in structural disorder with increase in deposition pressure. It also confirms the formation of nearly stoichiometric a-SiC:H films. Bandgap calculated using both Tauc’s formulation and absorption at 10⁴ cm^-1 shows decreasing trend with increase in deposition pressure. Decrease in refractive index and increase in Urbach energy suggests increase in structural disorder and microvoid density in the films. Finally, it has been concluded that C₂H₆ can be used as an effective carbon source in HW-CVD method to prepare stoichiometric a-SiC:H films.

The preparation of crystalline antimony sulphide (Sb₂S₃) by chemical route at room temperature was reported in this paper. The structural, morphological and optical properties of as-synthesized sample were system- atically investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the orthorhombic crystal phase for prepared Sb₂S₃. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images show uniform, dense spherical morphology having diameter around 200–220 nm. Energy band gap calculated from optical absorption spectra was observed around 2.17 eV. Contact angle measurement confirms the hydrophilic nature of the deposited film. The photoluminescence analysis shows low green luminescence as well as Stoke's shift for as-prepared Sb₂S₃. The nanostructured solar cell is fabricated for energy harvesting purpose with Sb₂S₃-sensitized SnO₂ photoanode and polysulphide electrolyte. The solar cell with FTO/SnO₂/Sb₂S₃ photoanode shows 𝑉_OC ∼ 240 mV, 𝐽_sc ∼ 0.640 mA cm⁻² and FF ∼ 35%. The working mechanism and energy level diagram of Sb₂S₃/SnO₂ system have been discussed.