Structural and Optical Properties Thin Film Copper Oxides Formed by Chemical Solution Deposition Process Technique

Abstract

Cu2O films were prepared by chemical deposition process (CSD) using solutions of copper nitrate, dip‐coated onto glass substrates. The precursor solutions were altered in an effort to seek the best solution for successful deposition. Organic additive of ethanolamine (EA) and (poly)ethylene glycol (PEG, H(OCH2CH2)nOH) was added to the solution and had shown positive effect in terms of the wetability and hence homogenous films resulted. Most films characterised by XRD gave (002) Cu2O, cuprite structure. To avoid films cracking and inhomogeneous coverage, multiple coatings were done with drying in between the successive coatings. Five to eight coatings were carried out for better coverage to ensure surface homogeneity. The microstructure of the surface oxides consisted of nanostructured oxides with uniform size distribution of 60–80nm. The optical transmittance of optimized Cu2O film reaches around 80% at wavelength of ∼ 700nm and the calculated direct optical band gaps were ∼ 2eV for the Cu2O films.