Optical Properties of Cu2O Thin Films Impregnated with Carbon Nanotube (CNT)

Abstract

This study investigates CNT-doped Cu2O thin film deposited by spray pyrolysis technique at a substrate temperature of 100°C. The samples were annealed at temperatures of 200°C and 230°C for 30 minutes. The effect of CNT doping on certain optical properties, such as extinction and absorption coefficients, a refractive index of doped Cu2O thin films were examined. The absorbance of the doped samples increases within the visible range and decreases in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM). Both absorbance and extinction coefficients increased with temperature making the samples a good candidate for use as absorbance layer in device fabrication. In addition, there was an increase in direct bandgap with the increase in CNT concentration of the thin films. The result of the study revealed that CNT doping has a significant effect on the properties of Cu2O.

Titanium Doped Copper (I) Oxide Thin Films for Solar Cell Application

“…Homojunction solar cells made with Cu 2 O have not been performing effectively, with lower efficiency than predicted [6]. This is due to the poor electrical properties of Cu 2 O films, such as low conductivity and short minor carriers of diffusion length [7]. These properties make it difficult for electrons and electrodes to move to holes, resulting in significant recombination in the bulk.…”

“…These films exhibited excellent electrical and optical properties, particularly when the F/Cu ratio was 1:2. Another study by Oluyamo et al [7] explored the effects of doping Cu 2 O thin films with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using spray pyrolysis at low temperatures. The doping of CNTs resulted in changes in the optical properties of the thin films, such as their absorption and extinction coefficients, as well as the refractive index.…”

Influence of Annealing Process on Cu2O Nanofilm and the Efficiency of Annealed p-Cu2O/n Si Nanostructure Solar Cell Prepared by Thermal Evaporation Technique

“…Cu2O is a stable binary copper oxide crystallizing in a cubic structure with a space group (Pn-3m) with the value of a lattice constant about 4.269Å where the unit cell consists of about four copper atoms and two oxygen atoms [6,7]. It exhibits a direct optical bandgap from 2.10 to 2.60 eV [8,9]. The Cu2O thin film could be manufactured utilizing a variety of different chemical and physical processes, such as the chemical deposition technique [10], thermal oxidation [11], spin coating [12], plasma evaporation [13], molecular beam epitaxy [14], radio frequency (RF) [15] spray pyrolysis technique [16].…”