Effect of conductive substrate (working electrode) on the morphology of electrodeposited Cu2O

Cu2O thin fims were electrodeposited from a Cu(II) acetate solution containing 0.02 M
Copper(II) acetate (Cu(OAc)2) and 0.1 Msodium acetate (NaOAc) at pH 5.6, using three
different working conductive electrodes with approximately the same square resistance
-indium doped tin oxide glass (ITO/Glass), florine-doped tin oxide glass (FTO/Glass), and
Indium doped tin oxide Polyethylene terephthalate (ITO/PET)—under identical conditions
using a common growth condition. The Cu2O thin fims werecharacterized by means
ofscanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-raydiffraction (XRD),current density versus
growth time for Cu2O fims, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results
showed that the choice of substratematerials hasa crucial role in controlling of Cu2O growth.
The charge transfer resistance (Rct) of FTO/Glass-Cu2O exhibits the lowest value; this
means that FTO/Glass-Cu2O possess the highest electron transfer effiiency.All Cu2O fims
showed n-type semiconductor characteristic with charge carrier densities varying between
1.4 × 1018–1.2 × 1019 cm−3.