Stable Cu₂O Photoelectrodes by Reactive Ion Beam Sputter Deposition

Abstract

Cu2O has been deposited on quartz substrates by reactive ion beam sputter deposition. Experimental results show that by controlling argon/oxygen flow rates, both n-type and p-type Cu2O samples can be achieved. The bandgap of n-type and p-type Cu2O were found to be 2.3 and 2.5 eV, respectively. The variable temperature photoluminescence study shows that the n-type conductivity is due to the presence of oxygen vacancy defects. Both samples show stable photocurrent response that photocurrent change of both samples after 1,000 seconds of operation is less than 5%. Carrier densities were found to be 1.90 × 1018 and 2.24 × 1016 cm−3 for n-type and p-type Cu2O, respectively. Fermi energies have been calculated, and simplified band structures are constructed. Our results show that Cu2O is a plausible candidate for both photoanodic and photocathodic electrode materials in photoelectrochemical application.

Effects of substrate temperature on the growth of CuO nano/micro rods by ion beam sputter deposition

“…CuO thin films were deposited on SiO 2 /Si substrates at 300 °C, 350 °C, 400 °C and 450 °C ST by reactive IBSD [48,49] for 1.5 h applying a discharging voltage of 1 kV. All the samples were deposited with constant argon/ oxygen flow rate of (Ar:O 2 =1.8/0.6) standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm).…”

Optical and Photolumenance Studies of Deposited CuO₂ Nano-Structures at Different Laser Energies Effects

“…Nanocrystals are highly suited for the creation of innovative opto-electronic devices because of their flexibility and ease of processing, as well as their optical characteristics.. Cuprous oxide is one of these semiconductor materials, with an optical energy gap of (2.17eV) [26][27][28][29]. Because of its potential use in solar cells, gas sensors, electrode materials, and other areas, this transition metal oxide has been intensively studied [30][31][32][33].…”

Laser Energies Effects on Physical Properties of CuO₂ Nano-Structures

“…Cu2O films have been synthesized using a variety of physical and chemical methods, including the thermal of the oxidations [27,28], the technique for the spray pyrolysis by ultrasonic [29,30], the re-active sputtering depends DC [31,32], sol-gel method [33,34], the electro deposition method [35,36], the deposition of the sputtering by ion beam [37,38], the molecular beam epitaxy with plasma assistance [39,40], the pulsed laser ablations [41,42], and the depositions by chemical baths [43,44].…”