Enhancing the current density of electrodeposited ZnO–Cu2O solar cells by engineering their heterointerfaces

Abstract

Using ZnO seed layers, an efficient approach for enhancing the heterointerface quality of electrodeposited ZnO-Cu 2 O solar cells is devised. We introduce a sputtered ZnO seed layer followed by the sequential electrodeposition of ZnO and Cu 2 O films. The seed layer is employed to control the growth and crystallinity and to augment the surface area of the electrodeposited ZnO films, thereby tuning the quality of the ZnO-Cu 2 O heterointerface. Additionally, the seed layer also assists in forming high quality ZnO films, with no pin-holes, in a high pH electrolyte solution. X-ray electron diffraction patterns, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy images, as well as photovoltaic measurements, clearly demonstrate that the incorporation of certain seed layers results in the alteration of the heterointerface quality, a change in the heterojunction area and the crystallinity of the films near the junction, which influence the current density of photovoltaic devices.

The role of using seed-layer assisted electrodeposition method on the growth and the photovoltaic properties of p-Cu2O/n-Si heterojunctions

“…Many hetero-interface engineering using the seed layer assisted deposition technique were performed. The role of using this technique to enhance the growth and crystal structure of the prepared heterojunction interfaces were confirmed [18,19].…”

Nanostructured copper oxides as ethanol vapour sensors

“…A detailed explanation of the mechanism of adhesion map has been discussed thoroughly in our recent paper [49]. The adhesion maps of the surfaces of CuO and Cu 2 O films are presented in Fig.…”

Effect of AZO film as seeding substrate on the electrodeposition and properties of Al-doped ZnO nanorod arrays

“…Briefly, in order to obtain crystalline AZO film with low roughness and good optical and electrical properties, the sputtering power and plasma pressure were set at 100 W and 30 mTorr, respectively. In addition, the 100 W rf sputtering power has been shown to lead to high crystalline electrodeposited ZnO based nanostructures with the (002) ZnO peak emerged as the dominant peak [25]. Considering the marked influence of the seed layer on the morphology of the electrodeposited NRAs as demonstrated by previous works where thicker seed layer have been shown to induce the formation of homogeneous structures [26], the thickness of the seed layer was set at 100 nm.…”