Fabrication and Characterization of SnO-Cu2O Mixed Metal Oxide Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Applications.

Herein, we report the synthesis of SnO, Cu2O and SnO-Cu2O mixed oxide thin films on fluorinedoped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (AACVD) process using [Cu (dmae)2(H2O)] and [Sn (dmae) (OAc)]2 as molecular precursors for SnO and Cu2O, respectively at 400 °C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern can be ascribed to the tetragonal phase of SnO crystals with space group P4 and cubic phase of Cu2O crystals with space group Pn- 3m/nmm, respectively. The surface morphology characteristics of SnO, Cu2O and SnO-Cu2Omixed oxide have been investigated using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) which revealed that the SnO was grown homogeneously in cubical shape while Cu2O possess nano balls shaped morphologies. The UV band gap values of SnO-Cu2O mixed oxide thin film was found to be 2.6 eV appropriate for photoelectrochemical (PEC) applications. The synthesized material was proposed for PEC applications and has shown enhanced catalytic performance in the presence of light.

Chloridotris[µ(2)-2-(dimethyl-amino)-ethano-lato]-µ(3)-hydroxido-tri-µ(2)-trifluoro-acetato-tetra-copper(II) tetra-hydro-furan solvate.

The title compound, [Cu(4)(C(2)F(3)O(2))(3)(C(4)H(10)NO)(3)Cl(OH)]·C(4)H(8)O or [Cu(4)(TFA)(3)(dmae)(3)Cl(OH)]·THF (dmae is dimeth-yl-amino-ethano-late, TFA is trifluoro-acetate and THF is tetra-hydro-furan), has an approximate mol-ecular threefold symmetry with three equivalent {Cu(dmae)(TFA)} units bridging between a Cu-Cl and a hydroxide unit, with the latter two lying on the mol-ecular threefold axis. However, in the solid state, the tetranuclear complex has C(i) symmetry. The Cu atom bonded to the Cl atom has a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. The other three Cu atoms have distorted square-pyramidal geometries with an NO(4) coordination environment. The bonds within the CuNO(3) base of the pyramid range from 1.953 (2) to 2.033 (3) Å, while the apical Cu-O bonds are significantly longer, ranging from 2.286 (2) to 2.377 (2) Å. The square-pyramidal geometries are augmented by weak inter-actions towards a sixth O atom, forming a highly distorted octa-hedral coordination environment [long Cu-O distances = 2.712 (2)-2.824 (2) Å]. The hydroxide group is hydrogen bonded to the tetra-hydro-furan solvent mol-ecule. One of the -CF(3) groups shows minor disorder over two positions, with a refined occupancy ratio of 0.894 (4):0.106 (5).