| Large enhancement of the photocurrent density in N‑doped Cu3N films through bandgap reduction |
Heesung Noh1, Hyunji An1, Jongmin Lee1, Jaesun Song1, Hyo Jin Hong1, Sehun Seo1, Sang Yun Jeong1, Bong‑Joong Kim1, Sangwoo Ryu2, Sanghan Lee1
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1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
2Department of Advanced Materials Engineering, Kyonggi University, Suwon, Gyeonggi‑do 16227, Republic of Korea |
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Received: February 10, 2020; Revised: February 10, 2020 Accepted: March 4, 2020. Published online: March 31, 2020. |
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| ABSTRACT |
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Copper nitride ( Cu3N) has attracted wide attention for solar energy conversion applications owing to suitable Eg of 1.6–1.9 eV, non-toxicity, and possibility to fabricate homojunction solar cells. The Cu3N has a body-centered site of anti-ReO3 structure, which can be easily occupied by transition metals. Hence, many studies on the band gap tuning of Cu3N have been conducted with doping of various elements. However, N-doped Cu3N film has not been reported experimentally yet although it was theoretically predicted to have very stable doping and new partially filled narrow band gap. Herein, via systematically controlling the nitrogen partial pressure (R = N2/N2 + Ar), we successfully fabricated N-doped Cu3N film using reactive RF sputtering. The N-doped Cu3N film (only specific R = 0.5) exhibits significantly reduced optical bandgap (1.1 eV) and improved photocurrent density (1.66 mA/cm2 at 10 V) compared with that of pristine Cu3N film. |
| Key words:
Copper nitride · Reactive sputtering · Photocurrent density · Solar energy materials |
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