Distant-Atom Mutation for Better Earth-Abundant Light Absorbers: A Case Study of Cu2BaSnSe4

Xiao, Zewen; Meng, Weiwei; Li, Jian V.; Yan, Yanfa

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00577

Title: Distant-Atom Mutation for Better Earth-Abundant Light Absorbers: A Case Study of Cu₂BaSnSe₄

Journal Article · Mon Nov 28 00:00:00 EST 2016 · ACS Energy Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00577· OSTI ID:1485482

Xiao, Zewen ^[1]; Meng, Weiwei ^[1]; Li, Jian V. ^[2];

^[1]

Univ. of Toledo, OH (United States). Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC) and Dept. of Physics
Texas State Univ., San Marcos, TX (United States). Dept. of Physics and Materials Sciences Engineering and Commercialization

Thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ and CdTe solar cells have demonstrated high power conversion efficiencies, but they cannot provide a sustainable clean energy pathway because of the scarcity of Te and In. In this paper, we propose a distant-atom concept to mutate In by a group II element (Ba) and a group IV element (Sn) that are at rather different locations on the periodic table. Because of the very different electronic properties between the cations, the resultant earth-abundant orthorhombic Cu₂BaSnSe₄ absorber does not have the detrimental cation–cation disorder issue seen in the earth-abundant kesterite Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ absorber. We anticipate that Cu₂BaSnSe₄ solar cells should not have large open-circuit voltage deficits as seen in CuZnSnSe₄ solar cells. Density functional theory calculation of the electronic and defect properties of Cu₂BaSnSe₄ confirms these expectations.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; CHE-1230246; DMR- 1534686

OSTI ID:: 1485482

Journal Information:: ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 2, Issue 1; ISSN 2380-8195

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 62 works

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