Photoresponse of Thermally Evaporated Copper Oxide-Based Solar Cells

This study reports on the fabrication and characterization of a copper oxide (CuO)-based photoactive cell. Copper was thermally evaporated onto two substrates and post-treated using chemical and thermal treatments to obtain different semiconducting types of CuO. Absorption measurements were conducted to obtain the bandgaps of CuO, which were found to be 1.51 eV and 1.21 eV, for the chemically and thermally treated CuO, respectively. Finally, a chronoamperometry test was conducted to confirm the photoresponse of the cell, which showed a doubling of output current values under light conditions compared to dark conditions.