Facile Synthesis of Spherical Flake-shaped CuO Nanostructure and Its Characterization towards Solar Cell Application

Abstract

The aim of this work is to synthesis CuO nanoparticles and investigates their eminent properties to identify their diverse application capability in the field of solar cells. In this work, CuO nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation method using Copper (II) nitrate and Copper (II) chloride. Surface effects due to defects, structural properties related through lattice parameter, and crystallite sizes of nanoparticles have been identified from XRD. The crystal plane and reflection peak position was calculated using Bragg’s law. It showed that CuO nanoparticles have a monoclinic structure, and that the average crystallite size of CuO nanoparticles was 28.82 nm. n-type semiconductor behavior had a direct band of Eg = 1.465(2) eV, analyzed from optical studies by DRS. The band gap of the sample was determined from the reflectance spectra using Kubelka-Munk (K-M) function. Elements present were found through absorption peak of FTIR. The blue shifts observed in FTIR spectra in CuO nanoparticles were compared with that of bulk CuO, and absorption band agreed with XRD results. Morphological studies revealed the formation of spherical flake-shaped formation of CuO. It had a higher surface area and was well-suited to solar cell applications. HIGHLIGHTS The CuO nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation method The average crystallite size of CuO nanoparticles obtained in the range of 28.82 nm Spherical flake-shaped nanostruture with higher surface area formed in this method Optical property of CuO (Eg = 1.465 eV) and good electron mobility make it a suitable solar cell absorber material GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT