Band offset of the ZnO/Cu2O heterojunction from ab initio calculations

The ZnO/Cu2O system has known a recent revival of interest in solar cells for its potential use as a heterojunction able to highly perform under visible light. In this work, we are interested on the characterization of the interface through nanoscale modelization based on ab initio (Density Functional Theory (DFT), Local Density Approximation (LDA), Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA-PBE), and Pseudopotential (PP)). This work aims to build a supercell containing a heterojunction ZnO/Cu2O and study the structural properties and the discontinuity of the valence band (band offset) from a semiconductor to another. We built a zinc oxide in the wurtzite structure along the [0 0 0 1] on which we placed the copper oxide in the hexagonal structure (CdI2-type). We choose the method of Van de Walle and Martin to calculate the energy offset. This approach fits well with the DFT. Our calculations of the band offset gave us a value that corresponds to other experimental and theoretical values.