Preparation And Characterization Of Nanosemiconductor ZnO/Cu₂O Composites

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a promising transparent semi-conducting material for various electronic device and UV light-emitting devices. Cu₂O also is a potential semiconductor material for solar cells. The synthesis of large area ZnO and Cu₂O films and patterning of them are very important to its character and usage. Many physical and chemical methods are applied to prepare ZnO films. Cathodic electrodepositing is considered as a novel, simple and effective method.In this paper, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanopillars with a single crystalline structure on the ITO substrate were prepared by using electrodepositing process. Surface structure and crystal orientation of the prepared ZnO films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effects of Zn2+, NO3- and Cl- in electrolyte on the growth of ZnO was studied. The electrodepositing conditions, such as electrodepositing potential and deaerating, and annealing process were also involved in detail.The nanocrystalline Cu₂O thin films could be gained by control the electrodepositing conditions such as solution systems, electrodepositing potential, pH value, and bath temperature. In this study, we took a method that can precisely and homogeneously control the shape of nanometer size cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) crystals grown onto the ZnO films .Through that way the crystal will be well-oriented. The properties of the films were studied by SEM, XRD, UV-vis.