Synthesis and characterization of (ZnO) _1−x (CuO)_x films prepared by PLD technique for enhanced the solar cell efficiency

In the present work, CuO and ZnO nanopowders were prepared by Sol-Gel method (auto-combustion) technique. The structural properties which are included XRD, FTIR and FESEM were examined for ZnO and CuO nanoparticles. The results show that the crystal system is hexagonal wurtzite and monocilinic space group of ZnO and of CuO, respectively. FTIR measurements showed two peaks for ZnO at 885 cm^− 1 and 1394 cm^− 1 and for CuO at 906 cm^− 1and 1078 cm^− 1. The FESEM images shows that the ZnO particles were formed in a very uniform manner in the form of spherical or semispherical appeared with the presence of some agglomerates, and shows that the CuO NPs also were the typical particle morphology a spherical shape. (ZnO)_1−x(CuO)_x composite were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique at different CuO contents (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) % wt on clean corning glass substrate at R.T. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that all prepared films have polycrystalline structure and the phase change from ZnO hexagonal wurtzite to CuO monoclinic structure with increasing x ratio. AFM measurements results show that the average grain size decreases with decreasing the concentration of CuO which leads to decrease in the surface roughness of the films. The deposited films were optically characterized using UV-VIS spectroscopy. The optical measurements showed that (ZnO)_1−x(CuO)_x films have direct energy gap and band decreasing as x ratio decrease. The figure of merit showed that the highest value occurred at x = 0.4. Current-Voltage characteristics showed that the behavior of V_oc and J_sc refers to the perfect linearity of the prepared device to work as a solar cell.