Optoelectronic and Dielectric Properties of Tenorite CuO Thin Films Sprayed at Various Molar Concentrations

The work in hand presents the elaboration of CuO thin films using a home-made spray pyrolysis technique at room atmosphere. The films were synthesized on preheated glass substrate at 450 °C. The source solution molarity was varied from 0.025 to 0.1 mol/L. The films were characterized by employing X-Ray Diffraction technique, UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry, Scanning Electron Microscope imagery, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, and four-points probe techniques. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that all films are polycrystalline with a preferred orientation along the plane (−111) of the monoclinic crystal structure phase of tenorite (CuO). The SEM images showed a homogeneous and smooth surface. Crystallinity and grain size were improved. The rise of solution concentration induced a reduction of transmittance and reflectance in the visible region. The energy gap, the absorption coefficient, the extinction coefficient, refractive index, dielectric constant (ԑr and ԑi) and loss energy were estimated from transmittance and reflectance data. The gap energy decreases from 2.72 to 2.56 eV. The film deposited for 0.025 mol/L exhibits the highest real part of the dielectric constant (ԑr ~ 17). The film resistivity which is in order of 102 Ω cm decreases with the increase of molar concentration. The estimated dielectric constant indicated that the resulting CuO thin films could be used as dielectric layers for optoelectronic devices working in Vis-NIR region of radiation. Furthermore, the relatively high band gap, high absorption coefficient and high conductivity of the film obtained at 0.075 mol/L, make them good candidates as absorption layers in solar cells applications.