The Properties of Sprayed Nanostructured P-Type CuI Films for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Application

In our experiments, we provide a new approach for depositing CuI (inorganic compound) thin films using the mister atomizer technique. The CuI solution was sprayed into fine droplets using argon as a carrier gas at different solution concentrations. The solution sprayed was 50 ml for all samples with substrate temperature constant at 50 degrees C during the deposition process. The result shows that the CuI thin film properties strongly depend on its precursor concentration. The structural properties were characterized by XRD with strong (111) orientation shows for all the CuI thin films. FESEM images revealed that all the CuI thin films deposited were uniform with the existence of nanostructured CuI particle. The EDX measurement confirms the existence of Cu:I in the films. The nanostructured CuI will improve the penetration of p-type between the mesoporous matrix of TiO2 thin film. Promising conductivity value of about 10 degrees S cm(-1) was obtained for CuI thin films deposited by this new deposition method. Low transmittance of below 50% was observed for all CuI thin films. The band gap energy obtained here was between 2.82 eV and 2.92 eV which is much smaller than the reported band gap which is 3.1 eV.