Crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films prepared using atmospheric pressure plasma annealing

This study reports the preparation of crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films using atmospheric pressure plasma annealing. The pristine thin films were deposited onto a quartz substrate using the sol-gel process. The specimens were then annealed using atmospheric pressure plasma at N2-(0-20%)O2 for 20 min. Crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films were obtained using atmospheric pressure plasma annealing at N2-5%O2 and N2-10%O2. The lattice parameters of the thin films were a = 0.5574-0.5580 nm, b = 0.2874-0.2879 nm, c = 0.5878-0.5881 nm, and β = 104.15-104.25°, which agree well with previous reports. The Raman shifts of the crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films were 688 ± 2 cm−1, 381 ± 2 cm−1, and 314 ± 2 cm−1. The binding energy of Cu-2p spectrum of the crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films was 932.3 ± 0.2 eV representing the Cu+ in the thin films. The binding energies of Mn-3p spectrum were 48.1 ± 0.2 eV (Mn3+) and 50.0 ± 0.2 eV (Mn4+). Furthermore, the cation distribution in the thin films was Cu+1.0(Mn3+0.6Mn4+0.4)O2 from the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement. When the crednerite-CuMnO2 phase was formed, the surface morphology exhibited a compact/dense granular morphology. The optical bandgap of the crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films was 2.6 eV, 2.8 eV, and 3.5 eV. In addition, the resistivity of the crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films was (2.61-2.65) × 104 Ω cm, which is consistent with previous literature reports. Moreover, the activation energies for the carrier conduction in the crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films were 0.10-0.12 eV. Hence, an atmospheric pressure plasma annealing offers a green, economic, effective and feasible method for preparing crednerite-CuMnO2 thin films.