Polycrystalline n-ZnO/p-Cu2O heterojunctions have been fabricated by low-temperature eletrodepositions of ZnO and Cu2O layers in aqueous solutions. The condition for forming the Cu2O layer significantly reflected the electrical rectification characteristic and the photovoltaic performance, and the heterojunction fabricated under optimized conditions showed an excellent electrical rectification characteristic and a photovoltaic performance of 1.28% in conversion efficiency under an AM 1.5 illumination.
The direct electrodeposition of Ag2O films was discovered for the first time using a new strategy termed “oxides synthesis induced by electrogenerated acid”. The Ag2O film with a bandgap energy of 1.46 eV is suited to a light absorption layer in photovoltaic cells.
We demonstrate that Ag 2 O and Cu 2 O polycrystal films with a cubic cuprite structure can be grown on F:SnO 2 substrates with controllable crystal orientation between ⟨111⟩ and ⟨100⟩ directions by galvanostatic electrocrystallization from aqueous electrolytes. The Ag 2 O and Cu 2 O films have been electrodeposited at different applied current densities determined by linear-sweep voltammetry (LSV) measurements, and their crystal structure and morphology were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The XRD results show the preferred growth orientation changed from ⟨111⟩ to ⟨100⟩ with increasing and decreasing current density for Ag 2 O and Cu 2 O, respectively. The surface morphology, especially for the Cu 2 O films, was also changed from a three-sided pyramidal shape to a four-sided pyramidal shape corresponding to the orientation. We also give a reasonable explanation for the observed trend in the growth orientation by considering the formation rate of AgOH and CuOH; higher and lower rates appear to yield ⟨111⟩ and ⟨100⟩ preferred orientation, respectively.
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