Improving the Absorption Figure of Merit of Mn-doped CuO Thin Films
Main Article Content
Abstract
Absorption effectiveness on the solar spectrum was evaluated through the absorption figure of merit (α-FOM) of conductive thin films. In particular, Mn-doped with concentrations of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9% and un-doped CuO thin films were fabricated by a simple, environmentally friendly solution synthesis method. The X-ray diffraction result showed the thin films were mainly oriented along the (002) and (111) planes. Scanning electron microscopy revealed at low doping concentrations, the films were evenly covered with large-sized particles, while at high concentrations, the particles tended to agglomerate. The bandgap energy of Mn-doped CuO thin films increased from 2.14 eV to 2.23 eV when the Mn concentration increased from 1 to 9 at%. Interestingly, the 9% Mn-doped CuO film achieved a maximum α-FOM value of 51.94 Ω⁻¹cm⁻¹, corresponding to a sheet resistance of 1.13 MΩ/sq, suggesting the potential application of this material as a conductive absorbing oxide layer in optoelectronic devices.
Keywords:
Thin film, Mn-CuO, Sol-gel, Absorption figure of merit.
References
[1] H. W. Chen, Gallium, Indium, and Arsenic Pollution of Groundwater from a Semiconductor Manufacturing Area of Taiwan, Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol., Vol. 77, 2006.
[2] A. Tanaka, Toxicity of Indium Arsenide, Gallium Arsenide, and Aluminium Gallium Arsenide, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., Vol. 198, 2004, pp. 405-411.
[3] U. Schwarz-Schampera, Indium, Critical Metals Handbook, 2014, pp. 204-229.
[4] K. Matsuzaki, K. Nomura, H. Yanagi, T. Kamiya, M. Hirano, H. Hosono, Epitaxial Growth of High Mobility Cu2O thin Films and Application to P-channel Thin Film Transistor, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 93, 2008.
[5] K. A. Jagadish, D. Kekuda, Performance Evaluation of P-type Cr2O3 Thin Films Grown by Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering for Schottky Diode Applications, Mater. Res. Express, Vol. 11, 2024, pp. 105901.
[6] A. Miquelot, M. Despotopoulou, C. Vahlas, C. Villeneuve, N. Dragoe, N. Prud'Homme, O. Debieu, Morphological, Structural, Optical, and Electrical Study of Nanostructured Thin Films: Charge Transport Mechanism of p-type Co3O4, Mater. Chem. Phys., Vol. 240, 2020, pp. 122059.
[7] F. Şenaslan, M. Taşdemir, A. Çelik, Effect of Working Pressure and Post-annealing on Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of P-type NiO Thin Films Produced by RF Magnetron Sputtering Technique, Applied Physics A, Vol. 127, 2021, pp. 739.
[8] F. E. Ghodsi, J. Mazloom, Optical, Electrical and Morphological Properties of P-type Mn-doped SnO2 Nanostructured Thin Films Prepared by Sol-gel Process, Applied Physics A, Vol. 108, 2012, pp. 693-700.
[9] T Larbi, MH Lakhdar, A Amara, B Ouni, A Boukhachem, A Mater, M Amlouk, Nickel Content Effect on the Microstructural, Optical And Electrical Properties of P-type Mn3O4 Sprayed Thin Films, J. Alloys Compd.,
Vol. 626, 2015, pp. 93-101.
[10] R. Sahay, J. Sundaramurthy, P. S. Kumar, V. Thavasi, S. G. Mhaisalkar, S. Ramakrishna, Synthesis and Characterization of CuO Nanofibers, And Investigation For Its Suitability As Blocking Layer in ZnO NPs Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cell and as Photocatalyst in Organic Dye Degradation, J. Solid State Chem., Vol. 186, 2012, pp. 261-267.
[11] S. Harish, J. Archana, M. Sabarinathan, M. Navaneethan, K. D. Nisha, S. Ponnusamy, C. Muthamizhchelvan, H. Ikeda, D. K. Aswal, Y. Hayakawa, Controlled Structural and Compositional Characteristic of Visible Light Active ZnO/CuO Photocatalyst for the Degradation of Organic Pollutant, Appl. Surf. Sci., Vol. 418, 2017,
pp. 103-112.
[12] M. He, Y. Wang, H. Wang, R. Chen, A One-step sol-gel Route Derived Ag-CuO Film as a Novel Solar Selective Absorber, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, Vol. 144, 2016, pp. 264-272.
[13] K. Iqbal, M. Ikram, M. Afzal, S. Ali, Efficient, Low-dimensional Nanocomposite Bilayer CuO/ZnO Solar Cell at Various Annealing Temperatures, Mater. Renew. Sustain. Energy, Vol. 7, 2018, pp. 4.
[14] R. Rahaman, M. Sharmin, J. Podder, Band Gap Tuning and P to N-type Transition in Mn-doped CuO Nanostructured Thin Films, J. Semiconductors, Vol. 43, 2022, pp. 012801.
[15] S. Baturay, A. Tombak, D. Kaya, Y. S. Ocak, M. Tokus, M. Aydemir, T. Kilicoglu, Modification of Electrical and Optical Properties of CuO Thin Films by Ni Doping, J. Sol-Gel Sci. Technol., Vol. 78, 2016, pp. 422-429.
[16] M. M. H. Babu, J. Podder, R. R. Tofa, L. Ali, Effect of Co Doping iIn Tailoring the Crystallite Size, Surface Morphology and Optical Band Gap of CuO Thin Films Prepared Via Thermal Spray Pyrolysis, Surfaces Interfaces, Vol. 25, 2021, pp. 101269.
[17] Y. Gülen, F. Bayansal, B. Şahin, H. A. Cetinkara, H. S. Güder, Fabrication and Characterization of Mn-doped CuO Thin Films by the SILAR Method, Ceramics International, Vol. 39, 2013, pp. 6475-6480.
[18] R. Rahaman, Structural, Morphological, and Opto-electrical Characterization of Mn and Co Doped CuO Thin Films, 2019.
[19] L. Xu, G. Zheng, S. Pei, J. Wang, Investigation of Optical Bandgap Variation and Photoluminescence Behavior in Nanocrystalline CuO thin films, Optik, Vol. 158, 2018, pp. 382-390.
[20] M. Popa, L. C. Pop, G. Schmerber, C. Bouillet, O. Ersen, Impact of the Structural Properties of Holmium Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Sol-gel Method on their Optical Properties, Appl. Surf. Sci., Vol. 562, 2021,
pp. 150159.
[21] N. V. Loi, L. T. N. Mai, N. H. Luong, B. N. Q. Trinh, Enhancing the Absorption Figure of Merit on Solution-based CuO Thin Films by Ni Doping, Optical Materials: X, Vol. 19, 2023.
[22] N. Jhansi, D. Balasubramanian, R. Raman, Investigation on Structural, Optical and Electrical Behaviours of Sn Doped Copper Oxide Thin Films and Fabrication of Diode, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron., Vol. 34, 2023,
pp. 1369.
[23] J. P. Colinge, C. A. Colinge, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, 2002, pp. 37.
[24] F. K. Shan; B. I. Kim; G. X. Liu; Z. F. Liu; J. Y. Sohn; W. J. Lee; B. C. Shin; Y. S. Yu, Blueshift of Near Band Edge Emission in Mg Doped ZnO Thin Films and Aging, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 95, 2004,
pp. 4772-4776.
[25] M. H. Babu, J. Podder, B. C. Dev, M. Sharmin, P to N-type Transition with Wide Blue Shift Optical Band Gap of Spray Synthesized Cd Doped CuO Thin Films for Optoelectronic Device Applications, Surfaces Interfaces,
Vol. 19, 2020, pp. 100459.
[26] M. M. H. Babu, J. Podder, R. R. Tofa, L. Ali, Effect of Co Doping in Tailoring the Crystallite Size, Surface Morphology and Optical Band Gap of CuO Thin Films Prepared Via Thermal Spray Pyrolysis, Surfaces Interfaces, Vol. 25, 2021, pp. 101269.
[27] V. G. Bhide, R. H. Dani, Electrical Conductivity in Oxides of Manganese and Related Compounds, Physica,
Vol. 27, 1961, pp. 821-826.
[28] T. Zhou, B. Wu, C. Li, X. Zhang, W. Li, H. Pang, Advancements in Manganese-Based Cathode for Sustainable Energy Utilization, ChemSusChem, Vol. 17, 2024, pp. e202400890.
[29] H. Q. Nguyen, D. V. Nguyen, A. Fujiwara, B. N. Q. Trinh, Solution-processed CuO Thin Films with Various Cu2+ Ion Concentrations, Thin Solid Films, Vol. 660, 2018, pp. 819-823.
[2] A. Tanaka, Toxicity of Indium Arsenide, Gallium Arsenide, and Aluminium Gallium Arsenide, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., Vol. 198, 2004, pp. 405-411.
[3] U. Schwarz-Schampera, Indium, Critical Metals Handbook, 2014, pp. 204-229.
[4] K. Matsuzaki, K. Nomura, H. Yanagi, T. Kamiya, M. Hirano, H. Hosono, Epitaxial Growth of High Mobility Cu2O thin Films and Application to P-channel Thin Film Transistor, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 93, 2008.
[5] K. A. Jagadish, D. Kekuda, Performance Evaluation of P-type Cr2O3 Thin Films Grown by Reactive DC Magnetron Sputtering for Schottky Diode Applications, Mater. Res. Express, Vol. 11, 2024, pp. 105901.
[6] A. Miquelot, M. Despotopoulou, C. Vahlas, C. Villeneuve, N. Dragoe, N. Prud'Homme, O. Debieu, Morphological, Structural, Optical, and Electrical Study of Nanostructured Thin Films: Charge Transport Mechanism of p-type Co3O4, Mater. Chem. Phys., Vol. 240, 2020, pp. 122059.
[7] F. Şenaslan, M. Taşdemir, A. Çelik, Effect of Working Pressure and Post-annealing on Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of P-type NiO Thin Films Produced by RF Magnetron Sputtering Technique, Applied Physics A, Vol. 127, 2021, pp. 739.
[8] F. E. Ghodsi, J. Mazloom, Optical, Electrical and Morphological Properties of P-type Mn-doped SnO2 Nanostructured Thin Films Prepared by Sol-gel Process, Applied Physics A, Vol. 108, 2012, pp. 693-700.
[9] T Larbi, MH Lakhdar, A Amara, B Ouni, A Boukhachem, A Mater, M Amlouk, Nickel Content Effect on the Microstructural, Optical And Electrical Properties of P-type Mn3O4 Sprayed Thin Films, J. Alloys Compd.,
Vol. 626, 2015, pp. 93-101.
[10] R. Sahay, J. Sundaramurthy, P. S. Kumar, V. Thavasi, S. G. Mhaisalkar, S. Ramakrishna, Synthesis and Characterization of CuO Nanofibers, And Investigation For Its Suitability As Blocking Layer in ZnO NPs Based Dye Sensitized Solar Cell and as Photocatalyst in Organic Dye Degradation, J. Solid State Chem., Vol. 186, 2012, pp. 261-267.
[11] S. Harish, J. Archana, M. Sabarinathan, M. Navaneethan, K. D. Nisha, S. Ponnusamy, C. Muthamizhchelvan, H. Ikeda, D. K. Aswal, Y. Hayakawa, Controlled Structural and Compositional Characteristic of Visible Light Active ZnO/CuO Photocatalyst for the Degradation of Organic Pollutant, Appl. Surf. Sci., Vol. 418, 2017,
pp. 103-112.
[12] M. He, Y. Wang, H. Wang, R. Chen, A One-step sol-gel Route Derived Ag-CuO Film as a Novel Solar Selective Absorber, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, Vol. 144, 2016, pp. 264-272.
[13] K. Iqbal, M. Ikram, M. Afzal, S. Ali, Efficient, Low-dimensional Nanocomposite Bilayer CuO/ZnO Solar Cell at Various Annealing Temperatures, Mater. Renew. Sustain. Energy, Vol. 7, 2018, pp. 4.
[14] R. Rahaman, M. Sharmin, J. Podder, Band Gap Tuning and P to N-type Transition in Mn-doped CuO Nanostructured Thin Films, J. Semiconductors, Vol. 43, 2022, pp. 012801.
[15] S. Baturay, A. Tombak, D. Kaya, Y. S. Ocak, M. Tokus, M. Aydemir, T. Kilicoglu, Modification of Electrical and Optical Properties of CuO Thin Films by Ni Doping, J. Sol-Gel Sci. Technol., Vol. 78, 2016, pp. 422-429.
[16] M. M. H. Babu, J. Podder, R. R. Tofa, L. Ali, Effect of Co Doping iIn Tailoring the Crystallite Size, Surface Morphology and Optical Band Gap of CuO Thin Films Prepared Via Thermal Spray Pyrolysis, Surfaces Interfaces, Vol. 25, 2021, pp. 101269.
[17] Y. Gülen, F. Bayansal, B. Şahin, H. A. Cetinkara, H. S. Güder, Fabrication and Characterization of Mn-doped CuO Thin Films by the SILAR Method, Ceramics International, Vol. 39, 2013, pp. 6475-6480.
[18] R. Rahaman, Structural, Morphological, and Opto-electrical Characterization of Mn and Co Doped CuO Thin Films, 2019.
[19] L. Xu, G. Zheng, S. Pei, J. Wang, Investigation of Optical Bandgap Variation and Photoluminescence Behavior in Nanocrystalline CuO thin films, Optik, Vol. 158, 2018, pp. 382-390.
[20] M. Popa, L. C. Pop, G. Schmerber, C. Bouillet, O. Ersen, Impact of the Structural Properties of Holmium Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Sol-gel Method on their Optical Properties, Appl. Surf. Sci., Vol. 562, 2021,
pp. 150159.
[21] N. V. Loi, L. T. N. Mai, N. H. Luong, B. N. Q. Trinh, Enhancing the Absorption Figure of Merit on Solution-based CuO Thin Films by Ni Doping, Optical Materials: X, Vol. 19, 2023.
[22] N. Jhansi, D. Balasubramanian, R. Raman, Investigation on Structural, Optical and Electrical Behaviours of Sn Doped Copper Oxide Thin Films and Fabrication of Diode, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron., Vol. 34, 2023,
pp. 1369.
[23] J. P. Colinge, C. A. Colinge, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, 2002, pp. 37.
[24] F. K. Shan; B. I. Kim; G. X. Liu; Z. F. Liu; J. Y. Sohn; W. J. Lee; B. C. Shin; Y. S. Yu, Blueshift of Near Band Edge Emission in Mg Doped ZnO Thin Films and Aging, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 95, 2004,
pp. 4772-4776.
[25] M. H. Babu, J. Podder, B. C. Dev, M. Sharmin, P to N-type Transition with Wide Blue Shift Optical Band Gap of Spray Synthesized Cd Doped CuO Thin Films for Optoelectronic Device Applications, Surfaces Interfaces,
Vol. 19, 2020, pp. 100459.
[26] M. M. H. Babu, J. Podder, R. R. Tofa, L. Ali, Effect of Co Doping in Tailoring the Crystallite Size, Surface Morphology and Optical Band Gap of CuO Thin Films Prepared Via Thermal Spray Pyrolysis, Surfaces Interfaces, Vol. 25, 2021, pp. 101269.
[27] V. G. Bhide, R. H. Dani, Electrical Conductivity in Oxides of Manganese and Related Compounds, Physica,
Vol. 27, 1961, pp. 821-826.
[28] T. Zhou, B. Wu, C. Li, X. Zhang, W. Li, H. Pang, Advancements in Manganese-Based Cathode for Sustainable Energy Utilization, ChemSusChem, Vol. 17, 2024, pp. e202400890.
[29] H. Q. Nguyen, D. V. Nguyen, A. Fujiwara, B. N. Q. Trinh, Solution-processed CuO Thin Films with Various Cu2+ Ion Concentrations, Thin Solid Films, Vol. 660, 2018, pp. 819-823.