Preparation of Cu3N/MoS2 Heterojunction through Magnetron Sputtering and Investigation of Its Structure and Optical Performance

Liwen Zhu; Xiu Cao; Chenyang Gong; Aihua Jiang; Yong Cheng; Jianrong Xiao

doi:10.3390/ma13081873

Preparation of Cu₃N/MoS₂ Heterojunction through Magnetron Sputtering and Investigation of Its Structure and Optical Performance

Materials (Basel). 2020 Apr 16;13(8):1873. doi: 10.3390/ma13081873.

Authors

Liwen Zhu¹, Xiu Cao¹, Chenyang Gong¹, Aihua Jiang¹, Yong Cheng¹, Jianrong Xiao¹

Affiliation

¹ College of Science, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China.

Abstract

Cu₃N/MoS₂ heterojunction was prepared through magnetron sputtering, and its optical band gap was investigated. Results showed that the prepared Cu₃N/MoS₂ heterojunction had a clear surface heterojunction structure, uniform surface grains, and no evident cracks. The optical band gap (1.98 eV) of Cu₃N/MoS₂ heterojunction was obtained by analyzing the ultraviolet-visible transmission spectrum. The valence and conduction band offsets of Cu₃N/MoS₂ heterojunction were 1.42 and 0.82 eV, respectively. The Cu₃N film and multilayer MoS₂ formed a type-II heterojunction. After the two materials adhered to form the heterojunction, the interface electrons flowed from MoS₂ to Cu₃N because the latter had higher Fermi level than the former. This behavior caused the formation of additional electrons in the Cu₃N and MoS₂ layers and the change in optical band gap, which was conducive to the charge separation of electrons in MoS₂ or MoS₂ holes. The prepared Cu₃N/MoS₂ heterojunction has potential application in various high-performance photoelectric devices, such as photocatalysts and photodetectors.

Keywords: Cu3N/MoS2 films; heterojunction; magnetron sputtering; photocatalysis.