Benefits of seed layer-assisted deposition of cupric oxide prepared by chemical bath technique

In this work, copper oxide (CuO) thin films were deposited by chemical bath deposition (CBD) on seed layers from the same compound previously prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP). Cupric acetate, cupric chloride, and cupric nitrate were used as precursors for the deposition of CuO seed layers by the CPS technique. Our objective was to investigate the effect of these seed layers on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of cupric oxide thin films prepared by CBD. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of CuO through the occurrence of well-known peaks which are considered “fingerprints” for the CuO phase. The micrographs of FESEM revealed unique morphologies for the deposited CuO films on seed layers with a variety of particle sizes, shapes, and features. The energy bandgap of each sample was obtained by using our modified Tauc’s plot method, which exhibited consistent values of bandgap energies. Hall’s effect analysis affirmed that all the prepared CuO samples by CBD had p-type conductivity with varying charge carrier concentration, carrier’s mobility, and conductivity, in which the latter had higher values for the samples with polycrystalline structure.