Improving carrier transport in strontium-doped cuprous oxide thin films prepared by Nebulizer spray pyrolysis for solar
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Improving carrier transport in strontium-doped cuprous oxide thin films prepared by Nebulizer spray pyrolysis for solar cell applications S S K Jacob1*, I Kulandaisamy1, S Valanarasu1, A M S Arulanantham1, V Ganesh2, M Shkir2 and S AlFaify2 1
PG and Research Department of Physics, Arul Anandar College, Karumathur, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
2
Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia Received: 04 March 2019 / Accepted: 23 July 2019
Abstract: Strontium-doped Cu2O thin films of different doping concentrations (0, 3, 5 and 7%) are deposited successfully with the help of Nebulizer spray technique. All the samples were characterized by XRD, AFM, Raman, UV–Vis, photoluminescence and Hall effect, and solar cell efficiency is calculated. From the XRD studies, the cubic structural phase of Cu2O is confirmed. The micrographs of AFM explain that the particles were uniformly distributed on the surface with homogeneous grains. The band gap value ranges from 2.17 to 1.95 eV as the doping concentration increases from 0 to 7%. The PL emission at * 630 nm also confirms the cuprous oxide phase. The deposited film exhibits p-type conductivity with low resistivity of 0.90 9 102 X cm and high carrier concentration of 22.7 9 1015 cm-3. A heterojunction solar cell of FTO/n-ZnO/p-Sr-doped Cu2O is fabricated, and the power conversion efficiency (g) is 0.75% for 7% Sr-doped film. Keywords: Strontium-doped Cu2O; Raman; AFM; Optical studies; Resistivity and heterojunction solar cell PACS No.: 84.60.Jt
1. Introduction In the recent years, the consumption of energy is very high, and it is anticipated that there is a drastic and dramatic decrease in the energy level in the future years to come. The fossil fuels are also exhausted very soon due to increase in population and urbanization. Therefore, to meet the energy demands in the future, we need to think of an alternative which is inexhaustible. To satisfy the demands for energy, the usage of renewable sources of energy such as solar energy is the only alternative left behind. Hence, there is a serious urge in the fabrication of solar cells of high efficiency and low cost. The ease of preparation, low cost, abundance, environment friendly and high carrier mobility makes copper oxide to be a potential candidate for solar cell. There is a huge demand in the research area of oxide-based photovoltaic due to its high efficiency beyond 6% [1–4]. It is well-known that copper oxide is available in two forms: tenorite (CuO) and cuprite (Cu2O) which are
p-type semiconductors with energy band gap in the range of 1.2–2.0 and 2.0–2.6 eV [5]. These two phases have more massive applications in the field of optoelectronic devices, high conducting materials, power applications, storage, sensing and solar cells [6–10]. Also, these materials found advantages in the field of TCO’s due to its excellent optical transparence and electrical properties which improve on do
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