Structural and Optical Properties of CuO Thin Films Synthesized Using Spray Pyrolysis Method

Copper oxide thin films were obtained using pulsating spray pyrolysis method. The morphological, structural, and optical properties of fabricated films were studied. X-ray analysis revealed that the CuO thin films are single-phase. The study of films morphology by SEM and AFM methods showed that the obtained films have a fairly high surface roughness and contain grains of different shapes and sizes. It was found that the obtained films of copper oxide have high values of the absorption coefficient, which confirms the possibility of their use as absorbing layers for solar cells. The obtained values of the optical band gap of the material are in the range from 1.45 eV to 1.60 eV. Raman spectroscopy revealed three modes A(1g), B-1g, and B-2g, of the crystal structure of monoclinic CuO. The devices based on p-type copper oxide are promising for solar cells fabrication because they can reduce production costs, due to their low cost and inexpensive production methods compared to silicon solar cells fabrication.