Effect of deposition temperature on key optoelectronic properties of electrodeposited cuprous oxide thin films

The cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) thin films were electrodeposited with different reaction temperatures. The structural, morphological, optical, photoluminescence and photo response properties of the deposited films were analyzed. XRD analysis reveals cubic crystal structure for the deposited films with polycrystalline nature. The film deposited at room temperature possess high crystallite size of 37 nm. The surface morphology shows that by increasing the deposition temperature pyramid shaped morphology changes. Laser Raman study confirms the peaks 109, 148, 219, 415 and 635 cm⁻¹ conforms the Cu₂O phase formation. The band gap of the films are 2.02, 2.10 and 2.27 eV for the RT, 40 and 50 °C, respectively. The photoluminescence spectral analysis contains an emission peak at 618 nm confirm the formation of Cu₂O. The photo response study confirms the ohmic nature of the films. The film electrodeposited at room temperature showed good I–V curve at the illumination of 300 W cm⁻².