Coatings 2014, 4, 380-415; doi:10.3390/coatings4030380 coatings ISSN 2079-6412 www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings Article Fabrication of CdS/CdTe-Based Thin Film Solar Cells Using an Electrochemical Technique I. M. Dharmadasa 1, *, P. A. Bingham 1 , O. K. Echendu 1 , H. I. Salim 1 , T. Druffel 2 , R. Dharmadasa 2 , G. U. Sumanasekera 2 , R. R. Dharmasena 2 , M. B. Dergacheva 3 , K. A. Mit 3 , K. A. Urazov 3 , L. Bowen 4 , M. Walls 5 and A. Abbas 5 1 Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK; E-Mails: p.a.bingham@shu.ac.uk (P.A.B.); oechendu@yahoo.com (O.K.E.); his.phys@uod.ac (H.I.S.) 2 Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA; E-Mails: thad.druffel@louisville.edu (T.D.); ruvinid8@gmail.com (R.D.); gaminisk@yahoo.co.uk (G.U.S.); ruchira331@yahoo.com (R.R.D.) 3 D.V.Sokolsky Institute of Organic Catalysis and Electrochemistry, Almaty 480100, Kazakhstan; E-Mails: m_dergacheva@mail.ru (M.B.D.); mit@sci.kz (K.A.M.); u_kazhm@mail.ru (K.A.U.) 4 Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK; E-Mail: leon.bowen@durham.ac.uk 5 Centre for Renewable Energy Systems & Technology (CREST), Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK; E-Mails: j.m.walls@lboro.ac.uk (M.W.); A.Abbas@lboro.ac.uk (A.A.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: Dharme@shu.ac.uk; Tel.: +44-114-225-6910; Fax: +44-114-225-6930. Received: 9 April 2014; in revised form: 11 June 2014 / Accepted: 11 June 2014 / Published: 27 June 2014 Abstract: Thin film solar cells based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) are complex devices which have great potential for achieving high conversion efficiencies. Lack of understanding in materials issues and device physics slows down the rapid progress of these devices. This paper combines relevant results from the literature with new results from a research programme based on electro-plated CdS and CdTe. A wide range of analytical techniques was used to investigate the materials and device structures. It has been experimentally found that n-, i- and p-type CdTe can be grown easily by electroplating. These material layers consist of nano- and micro-rod type or columnar type grains, growing normal to the substrate. Stoichiometric materials exhibit the highest crystallinity and resistivity, and layers grown closer to these conditions show n → p or OPEN ACCESS