No abstract

In this study, we report on the electrodeposition of p-type semiconductor copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) nanorods on ITO substrate from an aqueous solution. The influence of the bath temperature and deposition potential on the properties of CuSCN layers was studied. Nanorods deposited at low temperature (25°C) exhibited better crystalline quality and orientation along the c-axis than the nanorods grown at elevated temperatures. The deposition potential turned out to influence strongly the crystallographic orientation, the morphology, as well as the optical properties of the product. Mott-Schottky measurement demonstrates that the CuSCN nanorods are p-type semiconductor, with a hole concentration (N A ) eight times larger than that of the 2D thin films when the cylindrical geometry of the nanorods was taken into consideration. The CuSCN nanorods obtained in this study can be used as inexpensive inorganic hole-transporting material in solar energy application and it offers new possibilities to fabricate nanostructured solar cells in reversed process, which starts from the formation of nanostructured p-type electrode.

In this study we report on the electrodeposition of copper thiocynate (CuSCN) nanorod arrays on ITO substrate from an EDTA-chelated aqueous solution. Effects of molecule ratio of EDTA/Cu²⁺ and deposition time on the properties of CuSCN layers were studied. Results showed that films deposited from an electrolyte with low EDTA amounts were consisted of densely packed nano-crystals, while films deposited with high molecule ratios of EDTA/Cu²⁺ (>0.5) were composed of homogeneous nanorods with their (001) plane perpendicular to the substrate. Further time-dependent study showed that the formation of CuSCN nanorods was initiated at the very beginning of potential application and no intermediate or transitional products were detected during the electrochemical process. Optical analysis showed that films of CuSCN nanorods with a thickness of 100–400 nm had good optical quality, and exhibited the fundamental absorption edge at 320 nm.