Synthesis and characterization of metal oxide semiconductors by a facile co-electroplating-annealing method and formation of ZnO/CuO pn heterojunctions with rectifying behavior

• Published in: Materials research express Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 15902 - 15909
• Main Authors: Turkdogan, Sunay, Kilic, Bayram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.01.2018
• Subjects: crystal growth; CuO/ZnO heterojunctions; optical materials; oxide materials; semiconductors; thin films
• ISSN: 2053-1591; 2053-1591
• DOI: 10.1088/2053-1591/aaa1c3

We have developed a unique growth method and demonstrated the growth of CuO and ZnO semiconductor materials and the fabrication of their pn heterojunctions in ambient atmosphere. The pn heterojunctions were constructed using inherently p-type CuO and inherently n-type ZnO materials. Both p- and n-type semiconductors and pn heterojunctions were prepared using a simple but versatile growth method that relies on the transformation of electroplated Cu and Zn metals into CuO and ZnO semiconductors, respectively and is capable of a large-scale production desired in most of the applications. The structural, chemical, optical and electrical properties of the materials and junctions were investigated using various characterization methods and the results show that our growth method, materials and devices are quite promising to be utilized for various applications including but not limited to solar cells, gas/humidity sensors and photodetectors.