Bath temperature and deposition potential dependences of CuSCN nanorod arrays prepared by electrochemical deposition

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.

Electrochemical Characterization of CuSCN Hole-Extracting Thin Films for Perovskite Photovoltaics

“…Figure B shows the Mott–Schottky plot of CuSCN@FTO, which was obtained by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS, eq ). The plot has a negative slope as is expected for the p-doped semiconductor: ,− where e is the electron charge, ε 0 is the permittivity of free space, ε r is the dielectric constant (for CuSCN ε r ≈ 5.1), E is the applied voltage, E FB is the flatband potential, k B is Boltzmann’s constant, and T is the temperature. The capacitances are referenced to the geometric area of the electrode which neglects any surface roughness.…”

“…Furthermore, the literature N A values for CuSCN, estimated from eq , exhibit large spread from ca. 10 16 to 10 20 cm –3 ,, or even more. ,, This highlights the fact that solely Hall measurements using high-resistivity substrates provide correct carrier concentrations in these cases.…”

“…The literature values in various media (including aprotic ones) are between ca. 0.1 and 0.4 V vs Ag/AgCl. ,− However, all the cited works used solely FTO or ITO (indium–tin oxide) as substrates. Furthermore, they were usually acquired from single-frequency measurements ,− ,, which are quite inaccurate.…”

“…0.1 and 0.4 V vs Ag/AgCl. ,− However, all the cited works used solely FTO or ITO (indium–tin oxide) as substrates. Furthermore, they were usually acquired from single-frequency measurements ,− ,, which are quite inaccurate. A more exact procedure, based on fitting of complete impedance spectra, was employed only rarely …”

CuSCN Nanowires as Electrodes for p-Type Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells: Charge Transfer Dynamics and Alumina Passivation

“…One important advantage of CuSCN NWs over thin films is their much higher hole concentration; an increase by a factor of 8 has been reported. 42 Previously, we have optimized the deposition of CuSCN NWs on various substrates, 43,44 investigated their structural properties 45 and successfully integrated them into organic photovoltaic devices. 11 Here, we present strategies for the efficient assembly of QDs on the surface of NWs and study the light harvesting properties of the sensitized electrodes.…”