Comparative Analysis of the Photovoltaic Properties of Copper (I) Oxide/Copper (I) Sulphide [N-Cu2O/P-Cu2S] Heterojunction Solar Cells Fabricated by Immersion and Heating Techniques

Abstract

Study’s Excerpt:
• The study investigated the effect of different fabrication methods on the performance of n-Cu₂O/p-Cu₂S solar cells.
• The heating method on this study involved annealing the sample in a copper sulfate solution at 80 degree for one hour.
• The photo response of n-Cu2O/p-Cu2S solar cell formed by the immersion method gives an Isc of 16 µA and Voc of 77 mV which is higher than that of the heating method which gives an Isc of 8 µA and Voc of 40 mV.
Full Abstract:
Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a promising semiconductor material for photovoltaic devices due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and high absorption coefficient. This study successfully deposited n-type Cu2O layers using two electroless methods: immersion and heating. The heating method involved annealing the sample in a copper sulfate solution at 800 for one hour. As the second layer, the p-type copper (I) sulphide was formed on an n-Cu2O substrate by sulfidation using 0.05M Na2S to form the desired n-Cu2O/p-Cu2S heterojunction solar cell. The morphological and structural analyses of the materials were carried out using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD), respectively. The SEM shows that the n-Cu2O layer is composed of grains of different sizes, which were improved by annealing the sample at 300oC. The results showed that the immersion method produced a solar cell with improved photoresponse, yielding an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 77 mV and a short-circuit (Isc) of 16 µA, compared to the heating method, which gives a response of: Voc = 40 mV and Isc = 8 µA.