Annealing temperature investigation on electrodeposited Cu₂O properties

ABSTRACT

Thin films of Cu₂O were deposited on ITO glass substrates by using the electrodeposition method. The prepared samples were annealed at different temperatures range varying from 200 to 350°C. Chemical, structural and optical properties of samples were studied using XRD, Raman spectroscopy, U-V–visible and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The results revealed that all samples at temperatures lower than 300°C are mainly single cubic Cu₂O phase. However, after increasing the annealing temperature to 350°C, Cu₂O films are partially oxidized and contain two phases of Cu₂O and CuO. Raman results agree with the crystallite size results where the intensity of Raman peaks increases simultaneously with increasing grain size. The optical measurements showed that the band gaps values of the electrodeposited samples increase from 2.12 to 2.24 eV. Two optical gaps were observed at 1.58 and 2.26 eV for the sample annealed at 350°C which confirms the presence of two phases CuO and Cu₂O.

Keywords:

• Cu₂O
• semiconductor
• electrodeposition
• annealing temperature
• optical properties

Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by the Research Deanship of the University of Ha’il-Saudi Arabia through project number RG-0191284.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research has been funded by the Research Deanship of the University of Ha’il-Saudi Arabia through project number RG-0191284.