Ca-Doped Copper (I) Oxide Deposited via the Spray Coating Technique for Heterojunction Solar Cell Application

In this report, the morphological, optical, electrical, and photovoltaic properties of copper oxide and calcium-doped copper oxide thin films produced via the spray coating method were studied. The thermal post treatment at 300 degrees C in an inert atmosphere allowed us to obtain a single phase of Cu2O with 21 Omega cm of resistivity (rho). In this study, 1 wt%, 2 wt%, 3 wt%, 4 wt%, 5 wt%, and 10 wt% Ca admixtures with copper oxide were investigated. The determined optimal calcium dopant concentration was 4 wt%. XRD analysis was used to reveal the chemical composition of the produced layers. It was found that a calcium dopant does not change the layer composition but improves its electrical parameters. Based on UV-Vis spectra, the band gap energy and Urbach energy were calculated. The morphology of produced thin films was described as smooth and nanocrystalline, corresponding to a grain size calculated based on the Scherrer equation. Finally, it was shown that the developed protocol of low-resistivity copper oxide deposition via the spray coating technique can be successfully implemented in heterojunction solar cell production. The I-V parameters of Ag/n-type CzSi/REF:CuOx and 4Ca:CuOx/Carbon were collected, and the achieved efficiency was 2.38%.

Automated summary

This report investigates the morphological, optical, electrical, and photovoltaic properties of copper oxide and calcium-doped copper oxide thin films produced via the spray coating method. Through thermal post treatment and calcium doping optimization, low-resistivity and high-efficiency copper oxide thin films were obtained. XRD analysis revealed the chemical composition of the films, UV-Vis spectra were used to calculate the band gap energy and Urbach energy, and the morphology of the films was described as smooth and nanocrystalline.