Photoassisted electrodeposition of a copper(I) oxide film

Abstract

Photoassisted electrodeposition of a cuprous oxide (Cu2O) thin film was studied to find the optimum conditions lowering the deposition temperature. Cu2O films were electrochemically deposited on FTO by cycling the electrode potential between 0.0Vand 10.8V (Ag|AgCl), in an aqueous solution. A simple deposition cell was designed to allow simultaneous thermostating and polychromic illumination. Under illumination, the Cu2O film deposition occurred, even at a temperature lower than the temperature observed under dark conditions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that these films were indexed as cubic symmetric structured pure Cu2O (JCPDS: 05-0667), and UV-visible absorption spectra show an optical band-gap energy of 2.5 eV.