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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">mujast</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="nlm-ta">MUJAST</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Mountain Top University Journal of Applied Sciences and Technology</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title>MUJAST</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2736-2310</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Mountain Top University</publisher-name>
        <publisher-loc>Prayer City, Ogun State, Nigeria</publisher-loc>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">LEGACY-gdqyd</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.mtu/legacy-gdqyd</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Optimizing Zinc Sulphide Thin Films for Solar Cells: Effects of Annealing and Substrate Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
      <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
        <name>
          <surname>Adedayo</surname>
          <given-names>Kayode Seun</given-names>
        </name>
        <aff id="aff-1">Mountain Top University, Nigeria</aff>
        

      </contrib>
      <contrib contrib-type="author" >
        <name>
          <surname>Sonloye</surname>
          <given-names>Seyi Abiodun</given-names>
        </name>
        <aff id="aff-2">Mountain Top University, Nigeria</aff>
        

      </contrib>
      <contrib contrib-type="author" >
        <name>
          <surname>Akinsola</surname>
          <given-names>Samson Ibukun</given-names>
        </name>
        <aff id="aff-3">Mountain Top University, Nigeria</aff>
        

      </contrib>
      <contrib contrib-type="author" >
        <name>
          <surname>Ajayi</surname>
          <given-names>Akintunde Ayodeji</given-names>
        </name>
        <aff id="aff-4">Mountain Top University, Nigeria</aff>
        

      </contrib>
      <contrib contrib-type="author" >
        <name>
          <surname>Babalola</surname>
          <given-names>Aderemi Babatunde Alabi  and Olayinka Ajibola</given-names>
        </name>
        <aff id="aff-5">Mountain Top University, Nigeria</aff>
        

      </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <pub-date date-type="pub" publication-format="electronic">
        <day>11</day>
        <month>10</month>
        <year>2024</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>4</volume>
      <issue>2</issue>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>© 2024 Mountain Top University. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0).</copyright-statement>
        <copyright-year>2024</copyright-year>
        <copyright-holder>Mountain Top University</copyright-holder>
        <ali:free_to_read/>
        <license xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
          <ali:license_ref>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ali:license_ref>
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>&lt;p class=&quot;ql-align-justify&quot;&gt;Using the spray pyrolysis method, Zinc sulphide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on microscope glass slides at different substrate temperatures. Zinc acetate and thiourea were used as the precursor to prepare the ZnS films. The substrate temperature were respectively&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;set at 300&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;C and 350&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;C for the samples under investigation. The annealing temperature for the prepared film is 400&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;0&lt;/sup&gt;C. The films range in thickness from 4.42 to 29.7 µm. The impacts of both substrate and annealing temperature on the optical and structural properties of ZnS were investigated via the UV-visible spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses respectively. The results revealed that the grain size of ZnS films varied from 20.74 nm to 28.70 nm as substrate temperature increased from 300&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;C to 350&amp;nbsp;&lt;sup&gt;o&lt;/sup&gt;C. The films also possessed a polycrystalline cubic structure with (111) preferential orientation. The ZnS films showed more than 20 to 25 % transparency in the near-infrared and visible spectrums. The refractive index falls between 3.04 and 3.07. The energy band gaps of prepared films decreases from 3.35 eV to 2.80 eV with increasing substrate temperature, as estimated from the optical analysis for the ZnS. The obtained properties show a suitably fit material as window layer in a thin film solar cell and some other optoelectronic applications.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group kwd-group-type="author">
        <kwd>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: black;&quot;&gt;Annealing, Spray Pyrolysis, Zinc Sulphide, Solar Cell, Substrate Temperature&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <sec id="sec-1">
      <title>Introduction &amp; Full Text Notice</title>
      <p>The complete authoritative record and full scholarly content for this article is available in the archival PDF galley deposited at Mountain Top University Scholarly Repository.</p>
    </sec>
  </body>
  <back>
    <ref-list>
      <title>References</title>
      <p>Archived with full citation indexing at Mountain Top University Scholarly Publishing Network.</p>
    </ref-list>
  </back>
</article>