Electroplated cuo thin films from high alkaline solutions

V. Dhanasekaran, T. Mahalingam, S. Rajendran, Jin Koo Rhee, D. Eapen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

CuO thin films were coated on ITO substrates by an electrodeposition route through potentiostatic mode. The electrodeposited CuO thin films were characterized and the role of copper sulphate concentration on the structural, morphological and optical properties of the CuO films was studied. Film thickness was measured by a stylus profilometer and found to be in the range between 800 and 1400 nm. The structural characteristics studies were carried out using X-ray diffraction and found that the films are polycrystalline in nature with a cubic structure. The preferential orientation of CuO thin films is found to be along (111) plane. The estimated microstructural parameters revealed that the crystallite size increases whereas the number of crystallites per unit area decreases with increasing film thickness. SEM studies show that the grain sizes of CuO thin films vary between 100 and 150 nm and also morphologies revealed that the electrodeposited CuO exhibits uniformity in size and shape. The surface roughness is estimated to be 15 nm by atomic force microscopy. Optical properties of the films were analyzed from absorption and transmittance studies. The optical band gap energy was determined to be 1. 5 eV from absorption coefficient. The variation of refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), with wavelength was studied and the results are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)49-55
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of New Materials for Electrochemical Systems
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

Keywords

  • CuO thin films
  • Optical constants
  • Structural properties
  • Surface roughness

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