NH4Cl and KCl effect on the structural, morphological, optical and electrochemical properties of Cu2O nanoparticles and Cu2O nanostructures, galvanostatically electrodeposited

In this work, Cu 2 O polyhedrons with two different shapes were synthesized, using the galvanostatic electrochemical deposited method. In copper nitrate ( C u ( N O 3 ) 2 ) and Potassium chloride ( KCl ) bath, the Cu 2 O show highly symmetric 26-facet polyhedral microcrystals with well-defined {100}, {110}, {111} crystallographic faces. While, in the presence of additive ( NH 4 Cl ), Cu 2 O shows 18-polyhedral with well-developed {100} and {110} faces. The two morphologies revealed p-type semiconducting behavior. Cu 2 O 26-facet polyhedral show a high photoelectrochemical (PEC) stability of 73.5%. Such a feature is of great importance for future water splitting applications. Furthermore, the influence of the potassium chloride ( KCl ) upon their structural, morphological, conduction type, and optical properties, were investigated, studying the Cu 2 O nanostructures electrodeposited. Cu 2 O thin films were prepared from copper sulfate as a precursor ( CuSO 4 ), using different concentrations of potassium chloride ( KCl ). Structural, optical, and morphological properties of films, which were obtained by galvanostatic mode, were observed using X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectrophotometer, and scanning electron microscopy, in addition to Mott-shotcky measurement, for an electrochemical characterization, and photocurrent measurement. . It was shown that the conduction type of Cu 2 O nanostructures does not change regardless of the KCl concentration in the electrolyte. However, chlorine ions can ameliorate the density of the donor carriers (30 times largest) and the morphologie can be totally changed when the concentration of Cl − ions attends 0.1 M from nanocubes to dendrites of polyhedral shape.