Flaky nano-crystalline SnSe₂ thin films for photoelectrochemical current generation

We report chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and photoelectrochemical properties of large-area thin films of nano-crystalline SnSe₂ on conducting FTO glass. We show that densely packed, randomly oriented SnSe₂ nanoflakes can be grown by reacting vapors of tin monoselenide (SnSe) and selenium at 550 °C without compromising the electrical properties of FTO. We demonstrate that SnSe₂/FTO is photoelectrochemically active in visible to near-UV wavelengths (350-700 nm) and exhibits incident-photon-to-current-efficiency (IPCE) as high as 3.7% at 0 V versus the Ag/AgCl/1 M KCl reference electrode under 350 nm light illumination.