Abstract
In the current study, Zn-incorporated CuO (CuO:Zn) and pure CuO thin film heterojunction devices have been fabricated on n-Si (\(\langle 100\rangle\)) substrate, applying vapor–liquid–solid (VLS), for their potential application as photovoltaic devices. The uniformity of the thin films on Si-substrate and their crystalline orientation are verified using FESEM images and XRD studies, respectively. EDS and XPS measurements analyze the chemical stoichiometry and valance states of the as-grown oxides. The influence of incorporating Zn atoms on the structural stabilities of Zn-incorporated CuO was further studied using the DFT (density functional theory) simulation. From spectroscopic ellipsometry measurement, the direct energy bandgaps of CuO:Zn and CuO thin films are assessed to be 2.26 eV and 2.05 eV, respectively. Further, the electronic properties of such heterojunctions are investigated from the junction current–voltage and capacitance–voltage characteristics. The comparative photovoltaic study of CuO:Zn and CuO films suggests that the introduction of Zn into the CuO matrix enhances the power conservation efficiency (PCE %) and external quantum efficiency (EQE%) by almost 2 times. Also, a high spectral responsivity (~ 0.30 A/W @ 0 V) as well as detectivity (1.96 × 1012 cm Hz1/2/W @ 0 V) have been achieved for the CuO:Zn/n-Si photodetector. Therefore, the incorporation of ZnO into the CuO lattices by employing the cost-effective VLS mechanism suggests a significant improvement of optoelectronic and photovoltaic properties of such films for the fabrication of future devices.
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Funding
Anannya Bhattacharya likes to thank the DST-India (INSPIRE fellowship) to fund her work. The authors are also thankful to the WBDITE, DST Purse program, and Centre of Excellence (COE-TEQIP) for funding the equipments and financial support to carry out the research.
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AB: Device fabrication and characterization, Formal analysis, manuscript writing and revision; SK: DFT Simulation, Writing, editing; NB: DFT Simulation, writing, editing; GKD: Material characterization; SR: Material characterization; SC: Data analysis, writing, editing and overall supervision.
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Bhattacharya, A., Kanungo, S., Bahadursha, N. et al. Investigating the opto-electronic and photovoltaic properties of Zn-incorporated CuO thin film grown by vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) method. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 171 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11905-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11905-6