Optical and electrochemical properties of Cu-doped NiO films prepared by electrochemical deposition

Cu-doped nickel oxide (NiO) thin films were prepared by electrochemial deposition (cathodic deposition) technique onto the fluorine doped tin oxide (F: SnO₂; FTO) coated glass substrates from organic solutions. Effects of Cu content on the morphology, structure, optical and electrochromic properties of NiO films were investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-vis) and cyclic voltammetry (CV), respectively. SEM images indicated the formation of nanorods after Cu was added. The films were formed with amorphous or short-range ordered NiO grains and a trace of face-centered cubic Ni_xCu_1−xO confirmed by XRD. The transmittances of both bleached state and colored state were significantly lowered when Cu was added. The NiO films doped with Cu (the molar ratio was 1/8) exhibited the optimum electrochromic behavior with a variation of transmittance (ΔT) up to ∼80% at the wavelength range of 350-600 nm. Cu doping reduces the response time for both the coloring and bleaching states, and the reversibility of the redox reaction was increased as well.