Influence of Vanadium substitution on electronic, thermoelectric and optical response of Cu2O

Abstract

Abstract Cu2O semiconductor attained much research interest due to excellent electronic and optical response. In this work, Vanadium-doped Cu2O compositions were studied for electronic, thermoelectric, and optical response using density functional theory. The thin films were experimentally fabricated using the chemically derived spin coating method. The x-ray diffraction analysis revealed the growth of crystalline thin films with cubic structure having space-group 224-Pn-3m. The scanning electron micrographs exhibit the uniform grain growth with well-defined grain boundaries for pure Cu2O films. Density of states spectra display the maxima for O-2p and Cu-3d while V-3d states occupied the conduction band. The value of the experimental band gap for pure Cu2O is estimated as 2.02 eV and found to decrease with V-doping. The Seebeck coefficient and specific heat are found to increase with the increment in V-doping content due to thermal fluctuations. A steady increase is observed in real epsilon with the increase in energy and dopant concentration.