Use of surfactants to tailor the morphologies and crystalline phases of thin films via aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition

Morphological control is important for band gap tuning which in turn plays a vital role in device applications. In this article we have reviewed the effect of addition of surfactants (tetraoctylammonium bromide, cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide, Triton X-100, span, tetraoctylphosphonium bromide, sodium dodecyl sulfate, tween, oleylamine, acetylacetone and tetrahydrothiophene) during aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition of iron selenide thin films, gold nanoparticles in vanadium dioxide matrix, zinc oxide thin films, lead sulfide thin films and gold (0) plate growth. We have also discussed the mechanism of thin film formation.