Influence of deposition time on the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Cu2O thin films by reactive sputtering at room temperature

•Single-phase Cu2O thin films are deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering.•The films are sputtered at various deposition time from 1 min to 5 min.•The physical and chemical characterization of deposited Cu2O thin films are studied.•Photodegradation of crystal violet by Cu2O thin film are repor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials letters 2021-02, Vol.284, p.128980, Article 128980
Main Authors: Sai Guru Srinivasan, S., Govardhanan, B., Ashok, M., Santhosh Kumar, M.C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catalytic activity
Copper oxides
Crystal defects
Crystal violet
Crystallites
Cu2O thin film
Deposition
Glass substrates
Light irradiation
Materials science
Photocatalysis
Photodegradation
Pollutants
Radio frequency
Reactive sputtering
Room temperature
Sputtering
Surface roughness
Thin films
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Summary:•Single-phase Cu2O thin films are deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering.•The films are sputtered at various deposition time from 1 min to 5 min.•The physical and chemical characterization of deposited Cu2O thin films are studied.•Photodegradation of crystal violet by Cu2O thin film are reported for the first time.•The films sputtered at lower deposition time exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity. Nanocrystalline single-phase Cu2O thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by radio frequency (RF) reactive sputtering at room temperature with various deposition time of 1, 3 and 5 min. Films are in the cubic crystalline phase. Crystallite size increases from 16 to 22 nm and the surface roughness also found to increase from 1.8 to 2.3 nm with deposition time. XPS results denote that the defects in the films at lower deposition time predominantly attributed to oxygen vacancy. Optical band gap is found to decrease from 2.54 to 2.12 eV. The films were subjected to photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant crystal violet. Cu2O thin films showed an excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. Films sputtered at the lowest deposition time of 1 min exhibited higher degradation efficiency of 94%.
ISSN:0167-577X
1873-4979
DOI:10.1016/j.matlet.2020.128980