Study of the Structural, Optical, Electrical and Morphological Properties of Nickel Sulfide Thin Films Used in Supercapacitors

Nickel sulfide (NiS) thin film has been deposited on glass substrates by spray-pyrolysis at 325 ± 5 °C. The precursor aqueous solution was synthetized using hexahydrated nickel nitrates and thiourea. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-visible spectroscopy and four probes electrical measurements. The XRD analysis confirmed the hexagonal structure of NiS thin film, which was found to crystalize along [010] direction with an average crystallites size of 10.5 nm. The lattice parameters are a = b = 3.420 Å and c = 5.300 Å in the space group P6₃/mmc. The optical properties of the films were investigated through the transmittance and the reflectance measurements. The results revealed that the material exhibits a direct optical band gap of 1.03 eV. The elementary composition analysis confirmed the presence of Ni and S with a stoichiometry ratio (Ni/S) of 1.05. The morphology analysis revealed a homogenous crack-free, compact appearance and a granular surface in all scanned areas. The average roughness of the surface was 6.48 nm. On the other hand, the film exhibits a high electrical conductivity ca. 1.10 × 10⁵ S/cm at room temperature. The above results show that the prepared NiS in this study has a good crystallization, dense morphology, good stoichiometric ratio and high conductivity; therefore, it stands as a potential candidate for application in supercapacitors as an electrode material.