Copper-Doped Nickle-Oxide Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of Erichrome Black-T and Methylene Blue and Its Solar Cell Applications

Metal oxides and thin films nanostructures have been attaining a great interest due to their auspicious properties, stability at high temperature and durability which make them an intriguing candidate for photocatalysis and solar cell applications. In this study, we doped NiOx nanoparticles with Copper (Cu) to enhance the photocatalytic and solar cell activity. However, we investigate the size, thickness, photocatalytic activity and photovoltaic characterization of CuO, NiOx and Cu-NiOx nanoparticles. We observed the size and band gap of CuO, NiOx and Cu-doped NiOx nanoparticles. Although, the band gap of NiOx nanoparticles is reduced by Cu doping which leads to the enhancement of photocatalic activity degradation, photocurrent and power conversion efficiency. Moreover, we demonstrated the nanoparticles thin film based solar cell manifested by ITO/NiOx and ITO/Cu-NiOx junctions. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) is improved from 3.1% to 4.3% when NiOx nanoparticles were doped with Cu to synthesis Cu-NiOx nanoparticles thin film. Thus, doping of high transition metal nanoparticles provide new ideas in nanoelectronics and optoelectronic devices.