Improved optical transparency of cuo films prepared by using quantum-dot ink on glass substrates

The present investigation reports a simple solution process for synthesizing CuO quantum dots at low temperature without using surfactants or templates. Detailed structural characterizations revealed that the as-prepared CuO quantum dots were uniform and dense with high crystallinity. As-prepared CuO quantum dots were used as an ink to prepare CuO films on glass substrates via a spin-coating method. The effects of annealing temperature on the optical properties of CuO films were investigated. The optical transparency of the CuO films showed an improved transmittance of > 80% at a wave length of 800 nm after annealing at 300 °C. In addition, the band-gap energy was observed to decrease from 1.70 to 1.28 eV with increasing annealing temperature from 300 to 500 °C due to the improvement in the crystallinity with grain growth in the films.