![]() ![]() ![]() The size together with the morphology of nanostructured CuO materials significantly influences their electrochemical properties hence, it is of high relevance to control the morphology as well as the cyclability improvement of CuO-based materials. Moreover, besides nanostructured copper oxides being typically versatile, they also proffer ideal qualities in numerous applications such as semiconducting sensors, solar cell fabrication, electrochemical devices, high-critical-temperature superconductors, photovoltaic material, lithium-ion batteries, catalysts, and field emission emitters. Amidst the transition metal oxides, CuO is considered to be among the best recognized p-type semiconductors which exist naturally. ĭue to the appealing nature of the physicochemical properties of transition metals or nanostructured metal oxide materials, considerable efforts have been made regarding the production of such metals and metal oxide nanoparticles with the preferred shapes and sizes. Furthermore, as a result of its powerful solar absorbance and minimal thermal emittance, CuO has been acknowledged to be an attractive solar absorber, while Cu 2O is a very favorable option for solar cell applications due to its suitability for photovoltaic energy conversion. Additionally, its high optical absorption rate, excellent electrical conductivity, non-toxic nature, production efficiency, and more especially, its low cost of manufacturing have resulted in the material drawing a lot of attention from industries. CuO which is a semiconducting compound located in group I-IV of the periodic table, has over the years been of much interest as a result of the electrical and optical properties it possesses. Being a p-type semiconductor, its conductivity rises as a result of holes existing in the valence, which is attributable to either doping or annealing. The tenorites and cuprites are p-type semiconductors that have narrow bandgap energies of 1.21 to 1.51 eV and 2.10 to 2.60 eV distinctively. Copper is composed of two popular oxides: tenorite (CuO) (cupric oxide) and cuprite (Cu 2O) (cuprous oxide). Copper oxides (Cu 2O) have been researched as semiconductors for multiple reasons, which include the natural abundance of starting material copper its simplicity of production by the oxidation of Cu its non-hazardous nature and its remarkably excellent optical and electrical properties by Cu 2O. This thus leads to the fabrication of copper oxides. The electrical analysis, however, disclosed that the synthesized thin film portrayed good semiconducting behaviors.Ĭopper (Cu), being a 3d transition metal, possesses impressive physicochemical qualities however, due to its fundamental instability, copper thin films are liable to surface oxidation when exposed to the surrounding atmosphere at room temperature. Contrarily, the UV-Vis spectroscopy reported a strong absorption of the film at the visible spectra with an estimated optical energy band gap of 1.48 eV. Furthermore, the XRD analysis confirmed the monoclinic crystalline structure of the CuO thin film, while the FTIR spectroscopy investigated the chemical bonds formed during the production process. The SEM micrographs revealed that the particles were spherically shaped, while the EDX analysis revealed that the CuO thin film was composed of copper and oxygen elements. The fabricated CuO thin film was investigated using the Fourier Transform-Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-visible spectra studies (UV-Vis), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the Four-Point Probe measurement. A sol-gel spin coating technique was employed for the synthesis of the CuO thin film using Allium cepa as a reducing agent. This study aimed to synthesize copper oxide (CuO) thin films using an eco-friendly green synthetic approach. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |