Structural, optical and electrical properties of CuSCN nano-powders doped with Li for optoelectronic applications

•Pure and Li-doped CuSCN nano-powders are prepared via an in situ method.•Structural, optical and electrical properties of prepared samples are investigated.•Optical band gap, extinction coefficient and refractive index are calculated.•The dc electrical conductivity of CuSCN decreases after doping it with Li.•Doping CuSCN with Li enhances its efficiency as a window layer for the solar cells. Pure and Li-doped CuSCN nano-powders were prepared using an in situ method. Structural, optical and electrical properties of the prepared samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible spectrophotometer and simple electrical circuit. XRD measurements showed that all pure and doped samples with 1%–7% Li have the hexagonal structures. The crystallite size of CuSCN decreased from 39.46 nm to 36.42 nm with increasing Li concentration from 0 to 7%. The values of direct and indirect optical band gap energies of pure and Li-doped CuSCN nano-powders were calculated. Direct optical band gap energy increased from 3.60 eV to 4.20 eV and indirect optical band gap energy increased from 2.36 eV to 3.20 eV by doping CuSCN with Li. The dc electrical conductivity was calculated at room temperature for all prepared CuSCN samples. Electrical conductivity decreased from 6.04 × 10−8 (Ω.cm)−1 to 2.82 × 10−8 (Ω.cm)−1 with increasing Li concentration from 0 to 7%. The optoelectronic performance of CuSCN was improved by doping with Li. As a result, Li-doped CuSCN could be a good candidate material as a window layer and as a hole transport layer (HTL) for producing more efficient solar cells.