Fabrication and Characterization of p-Cu2O on n-TiO2 Layer by Electrodeposition Method for Heterojunction Solar Cells Development

Abstract

This study focused on the copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) that serves as an absorber layer, owing to its excellent optical properties, while titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-known material that has superior properties in solar cell development. In this work, the TiO2 nanorods layer was synthesised on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate by a facile hydrothermal method followed by stacking the Cu2O layer using a low-cost electrodeposition method at different deposition times. Prior to deposition, a cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurement was performed, and the result showed that Cu2O films were successfully grown on the TiO2 nanorods layer with high uniformity. The crystallinity of the Cu2O/TiO2 film was increased when the deposition time was elevated. The strongest diffraction peak was detected in the sample deposited for 90 minutes. FE-SEM images revealed the formation of the pyramidal structure of Cu2O on the TiO2nanorod layer. The optical properties showed that the samples deposited at 60 minutes and above were red-shifted, with the estimated bandgap being slightly decreased when extending the deposition time. Meanwhile, the resistivity and sheet resistance of the as-prepared samples were increased. The performance of the solar cell was investigated, and the power energy conversion was slightly increased to 0.0267% for the heterojunction sample deposited at 90 minutes. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2021-02-04-02 Full Text: PDF

Keywords

• copper (i) oxide (cu2o)
• titanium dioxide (tio2)
• hydrothermal
• electrodeposition method
• deposition time
• heterojunction solar cell.