Cupric oxide semiconductors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10115847-B2
Application number	US-201515301646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 2, 2015
Priority date	Apr 4, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A method of preparing a cupric oxide semiconductor. The method includes providing a substrate having a first surface, forming a cuprous oxide layer on the first surface, converting the cuprous oxide layer into a cupric oxide layer via an oxidation reaction, and depositing additional cupric oxide on the cupric oxide layer, which serves as a seed layer, to yield a cupric oxide film, thereby obtaining a cupric oxide semiconductor. Also disclosed are a cupric oxide semiconductor thus prepared and a photovoltaic device including it.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cupric oxide semiconductor comprising a substrate and a cupric oxide film overlaying the substrate, wherein the cupric oxide film, containing polycrystalline cupric oxide, amorphous cupric oxide, or both, has an electrical resistivity of 10 to 10 5 Ω·cm, a thickness of 50 to 10000 nm, a bulk density of 1 to 6.4 g/cm 3 , a surface area of 1 to 100 m 2 /g, a bandgap of 1.1 to 1.8 eV, and a capacitance of 50 to 100000 mF/g.

2. The cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 , wherein the polycrystalline cupric oxide and the amorphous cupric oxide constitute 5 to 95 wt % and 95 to 5 wt % of the cupric oxide film, respectively.

3. The cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 , wherein the cupric oxide film includes a seed layer and a planted layer, the seed layer having a first side and a second side, the first side being in contact with the substrate, and the second side being in contact with the planted layer,
in which
the seed layer has a thickness of 10 to 5000 nm and contains dispersed cupric oxide crystals each having a diameter of 10 to 150 nm, and
the planted layer has a thickness of 10 to 10000 nm and contains interconnected nanoplatelets or dendrite spheres of cupric oxide crystals each having a diameter of 10 to 500 nm.

4. The cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 , further comprising a dopant in the cupric oxide film.

5. The cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 4 , wherein the dopant is Li + , Ag + , Al 3+ , Mn 2+ , Mn 4+ , Ga 3+ , or a combination thereof, and the molar ratio between the dopant and the cupric oxide is 0.00001:1 to 0.1:1.

6. The cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a metal, a glass, an alumina-containing material, or a silicon-containing material.

7. A photovoltaic device comprising:
a p-type absorber layer formed of a cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 containing a cupric oxide film,
a first electrode in ohmic contact with the p-type absorber layer,
an n-type layer coated on the cupric oxide film, and
a second electrode in ohmic contact with the n-type layer.

8. An energy storing device comprising
a first semiconductor layer formed of a cupric oxide semiconductor of claim 1 ,
a second semiconductor layer,
a separator that separates the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer, and
an electrolyte that is capable of passing through the separator and is in contact with both layers.

Assignees

• Tufts College

Inventors

• Zhu Changqiong
• Panzer Matthew

Classifications

• H01L31/022425

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01G9/2027

  comprising an oxide semiconductor electrode · CPC title

• H01G11/46

  Metal oxides · CPC title

• C01G3/02

  Oxides; Hydroxides · CPC title

• H01M14/005

  Photoelectrochemical storage cells (light sensitive devices H01G9/20, semiconductors sensitive to light H10F) · CPC title