Synthesis and Characterization of High-Photoactivity Electrodeposited Cu 2 O Solar Absorber by Photoelectrochemistry and Ultrafast Spectroscopy (original) (raw)
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Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2020
Low cost electrodeposition method was employed to grow Cu 2 O nanostructure thin films on different conductive substrates (Au, ITO, and FTO). Here for first time, influence of substrate on morphology, structural, and optical properties of electrodeposited thin films as active layer for solar cell applications were investigated employing scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Uv-vis spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. The results indicate single-phase formation of polycrystalline cubic structure of Cu 2 O thin film on the three substrates. Only the (111) diffraction plane was appeared on ITO and Au substrates demonstrating a good crystal quality. The formed Cu 2 O on Au substrate have the smallest grain sizes and highest surface area. Optical results show that the fabricated Cu 2 O films have band gap of 2.03, 2.03 and 1.93 eV for Au, ITO, and FTO substrates respectively. The grown Cu 2 O crystals on Au substrate have the lowest PL intensity that indicate the higher performance to separate the photogenerated carriers and lowest recombination rate as well as high crystal quality. I-V characteristic curves of the fabricated thin films showed that samples have a non-linear rectification behavior while Cu 2 O deposited on Au substrate has the highest forward current. I-V results confirmed and supported all the other obtained results from XRD, SEM, and PL techniques. Therefore, the results designate that the electrodeposited Cu 2 O thin film on Au substrate is the most favorable for solar cell applications.
Chemical Engineering Journal
We propose a simple way to increase incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE, Y) for electrodeposited p-type Cu 2 O films through addition of Eu(III) to the electrodeposition bath. This is the first reported enhancement of photocurrent for Cu 2 O modified with a rare-earth element. Our study is based on hypothesis that a large ionic radius of Eu(III) promotes its precipitation in form of inclusions of another phase, which act as getter centers leading to purification of host material from detrimental impurities and, correspondingly, to increase in lifetime of non-equilibrium charge carriers. SEM, EDX and XRD analyses indicate that addition of Eu (III) results in some increase of Cu 2 O crystallite size and growth of a secondary Eu containing phase without changing the Cu 2 O lattice parameters. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicates invariance of acceptor concentration and flat band potential for Eu modified films. Remarkable increase of charge carriers' lifetime,
physica status solidi (a), 2017
The synthesization of Cu 2 O thin films by electrodeposition for photoelectrochemical water splitting is reported. The synthesized Cu 2 O samples are annealed at different temperatures between 300 and 500 C. The XRD analysis and SEM images indicate that the sample without annealing includes Cu 2 O grains with pyramid shape. With annealing to more than 300 C, due to the oxidization of the sample, a thin layer of CuO appears on the original Cu 2 O film and the crystalline signatures of such CuO structure increase with annealing at higher temperatures. The photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that annealing pure Cu 2 O by more than 300 C, remarkably increases the photocurrent achieved from this photocathode. The effect is accompanied with considerable improvement of chemical stability of the original Cu 2 O electrode during water splitting. Such protection effect, which is originated from generation of CuO on the samples, increases with the annealing temperature up to 500 C. However, the best photocurrent from the Cu 2 O/CuO composite is obtained from the annealing temperature of about 400 C. The results of impedance analysis of various annealed samples indicate that annealing at a higher temperature, better charge transfer occurs both at the interface of photocathode/electrolyte and inside the photocathode.
Journal of Electronic Materials, 2020
In this investigation, the impact of electrodeposition time on the photoelectrochemical characteristics of a cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) nanocube semiconductor photoelectrode is investigated. The Cu 2 O nanocube photoelectrode was synthesized electrochemically, utilizing underpotential deposition (UPD). Numerous techniques, including x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), ultravioletvisible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry (CA), were utilized for characterization of the Cu 2 O nanocube photoelectrode. A highly crystalline structure of Cu 2 O nanocubes deposited on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate can be seen in the XRD results. SEM images revealed a cubic-shaped structure of Cu 2 O. However, EDX analysis and the optical bandgap confirmed the presence of uniform singlephase Cu 2 O nanocubes. Astonishingly, the Cu 2 O nanocube photoelectrode electrodeposited for 15 min possesses the highest photocurrent among all investigated films. Also, the Cu 2 O nanocubes displayed stable photocathodic performance as a result of the p-type nature. Moreover, the Cu 2 O nanocube photoelectrode is suggested to be a good candidate for progressive photoelectrochemical detection. Furthermore, it can be utilized for the expanded field of photoelectrochemical water splitting in addition to other solar photovoltaic devices.
FABRICATION AND ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF Cu-Cu2O PHOTO ELECTRO CHEMICAL SOLAR CELLS
FUDMA Journal of Science (FJS), 2023
Solar energy is recognized as a unique conventional energy source. Photoelectrochemical solar cells (PEC) of copper (i) oxide (Cu2O) is studied in this work on account of it non-toxic nature and the low cost of the material. Copper (i) oxide is prepared by partial thermal oxidation of copper foils at 970 0 c and used as one electrode, while copper foil is used as the counter electrode. The photo electrochemical solar cells (PEC) device is contained in a cylindrical white plastic container (which is transparent to light) using sodium chloride as an electrolyte. When tested under full sunlight in Katsina town, a short circuit current (Isc) of 180µA, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 70 mV, a fill-factor (FF) of 0.27, and an electrical power conversion efficiency,(Ƞ) of 1.013 × 10-3 % were obtained respectively.
Cu 2 O Photosensitive Thin Films for Solar Cell Application
Among copper oxides, Cu 2 O is intensively studied due to its high optical absorption coefficient and relatively good electrical properties. Copper oxide thin films properties depend on the deposition method as an effect of detailed arrangement of Cu and O atoms that induce different physical properties. Cu 2 O is a p-type semiconductor having a band gap sufficiently close to the optimal band gap under AM1.5 radiation spectrum, which makes it an attractive material for photovoltaic applications and solar cells. The structural and morphological properties of deposited thin films were investigated by S canning Electron Microscopy (S EM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The thin film thickness and optical constants were determined by S pectroscopic Ellipsometry (S E). The purpose of the paper was to study the technological possibilities of preparing high quality Cu 2 O thin films, used in photovoltaic applications. The sputter-deposited Cu 2 O thin films presented in this work show g...
Effect of morphology on the photoelectrochemical performance of nanostructured Cu 2 O photocathodes
Nanotechnology, 2021
Cu 2 O is a promising earth-abundant semiconductor photocathode for sunlight-driven water splitting. Characterization results are presented to show how the photocurrent density (J ph), onset potential (E onset), band edges, carrier density (N A), and interfacial charge transfer resistance (R ct) are affected by the morphology and method used to deposit Cu 2 O on a copper foil. Mesoscopic and planar morphologies exhibit large differences in the values of N A and R ct. However, these differences are not observed to translate to other photocatalytic properties of Cu 2 O. Mesoscopic and planar morphologies exhibit similar bandgap (e.g.) and flat band potential (E fb) values of 1.93 ± 0.04 eV and 0.48 ± 0.06 eV respectively. E onset of 0.48 ± 0.04 eV obtained for these systems is close to the E fb indicating negligible water reduction overpotential. Electrochemically deposited planar Cu 2 O provides the highest photocurrent density of 5.0 mA cm −2 at 0 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) of all the morphologies studied. The photocurrent densities observed in this study are among the highest reported values for bare Cu 2 O photocathodes.
Photoelectrochemistry of Porous p-Cu[sub 2]O Films
Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2008
Porous p-Cu 2 O films were prepared on transparent conductive glass from a dispersion of Cu 2 O powder in ethanol. Upon illumination with a 100 W tungsten lamp, the photocurrent of the porous Cu 2 O film was appreciably greater when compared to electrodeposited Cu 2 O films. The enhancement is attributed to the increased interfacial area between the film and the solution due to the three-dimensional nature of the Cu 2 O film. No chemical change was detected by visual examination and X-ray diffraction of the porous Cu 2 O film after illumination for 2 h in the aqueous solution at −0.4 V vs saturated calomel electrode. The reported stability of electrodeposited Cu 2 O films is attributed to the effect of Cu + -terminated ͑111͒ surface, where the H + -assisted photoreduction of Cu 2 O is less likely to occur. The well-known instability of single-crystal Cu 2 O is hypothesized to be due to the predominating ͑211͒ and ͑311͒ surfaces, where the photodecomposition to Cu is inevitable at the exposed O 2− sites. Figure 10. ͑Color online͒ ͑a͒ Cu 2 O cross section along the ͓100͔ direction. ͑b͒ Cu 2 O cross section along the ͓100͔ direction. Stoichiometric four-sided pyramid when the first deposition plane is O 2− plane. ͑c͒ Cu 2 O cross section along the ͓100͔ direction. Stoichiometric four-sided pyramid when the first deposition plane is Cu ϩ .
2015 Materials Transactions Photoassited Electrodeposition of a Copper(II) Oxide Film
Photoassisted electrodeposition of a cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) thin film was studied to find the optimum conditions lowering the deposition temperature. Cu 2 O films were electrochemically deposited on FTO by cycling the electrode potential between 0.0 V and ¹0.8 V (Ag«AgCl), in an aqueous solution. A simple deposition cell was designed to allow simultaneous thermostating and polychromic illumination. Under illumination, the Cu 2 O film deposition occurred, even at a temperature lower than the temperature observed under dark conditions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that these films were indexed as cubic symmetric structured pure Cu 2 O (JCPDS: 05-0667), and UV-visible absorption spectra show an optical band-gap energy of 2.5 eV. [