Characterization of CuO/n-Si heterojunction solar cells produced by thermal evaporation


Ozmentes R., Temirci C., Özkartal A., EJDERHA K., YILDIRIM N.

MATERIALS SCIENCE-POLAND, vol.36, no.4, pp.668-674, 2018 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 36 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2018
  • Doi Number: 10.2478/msp-2018-0092
  • Journal Name: MATERIALS SCIENCE-POLAND
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.668-674
  • Keywords: copper oxide, heterojunction, photovoltaics, solar cell, rectifier, OXIDE, PARAMELACONITE
  • Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Copper(II) oxide (CuO) in powder form was evaporated thermally on the front surface of an n-Si (1 0 0) single crystal using a vacuum coating unit. Structural investigation of the deposited CuO film was made using X- ray difraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X- ray analysis (EDX) techniques. It was determined from the obtained results that the copper oxide films exhibited single-phase CuO properties in a monoclinic crystal structure. Transmittance measurement of the CuO film was performed by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Band gap energy of the film was determined as 1.74 eV under indirect band gap assumption. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements of the CuO/n-Si heterojunctions were performed under illumination and in the dark to reveal the photovoltaic and electrical properties of the produced samples. From the I-V measurements, it was revealed that the CuO/n-Si heterojunctions produced by thermal evaporation exibit excellent rectifying properties in dark and photovoltaic properties under illumination. Conversion efficiencies of the CuO/n-Si solar cells are comparable to those of CuO/n-Si produced by other methods described in the literature.