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Title: Structural and electronic modification of photovoltaic SnS by alloying

Abstract

Emergence of a terawatt scalable photovoltaic (PV) thin film technology is currently impeded by the limited supply of relatively rare elements like In or Te, which has spurred active research in recent years on earth-abundant PV materials. Instead of searching for alternative PV materials, we approach the problem here by structural modification through alloying of a known PV material, namely, tin sulfide. Although SnS is a strong visible light absorber that is naturally p-doped, its indirect band gap reduces the open circuit voltage of SnS-based solar cells. The anisotropic crystal structure results in undesirable anisotropic transport properties. Based on the observation that the isoelectronic sulfides MgS, CaS, and SrS assume the rock-salt structure, we use ab initio calculations to explore the structure and electronic properties of metastable Sn1-x(II)xS (II = Mg, Ca, Sr) alloys, finding that the isotropic rock-salt phase is stabilized above x = 0.2–0.3, and predicting direct band gaps in the range of interest for PV applications, i.e., 0.6–1.5 eV for Ca and Sr alloying. Here, we subsequently synthesized such Sn1-x(Ca)xS films by pulsed laser deposition, confirmed the cubic rock-salt structure, and observed optical band gaps between 1.1 and 1.3 eV. These results highlight the potential of structuralmore » modification by alloying as a route to widen the otherwise limited materials base for promising earth-abundant materials.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  2. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Inverse Design (CID)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1383527
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 11; Related Information: CID partners with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (lead); Colorado School of Mines; Northwestern University; Oregon State University; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; University of Colorado; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; solar (photovoltaic); solar (fuels); photosynthesis (natural and artificial); electrodes - solar; defects; spin dynamics; materials and chemistry by design; synthesis (novel materials)

Citation Formats

Vidal, Julien, Lany, Stephan, Francis, Jason, Kokenyesi, Robert, and Tate, Janet. Structural and electronic modification of photovoltaic SnS by alloying. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4868974.
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Vidal, Julien, Lany, Stephan, Francis, Jason, Kokenyesi, Robert, & Tate, Janet. Structural and electronic modification of photovoltaic SnS by alloying. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868974
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Vidal, Julien, Lany, Stephan, Francis, Jason, Kokenyesi, Robert, and Tate, Janet. Fri . "Structural and electronic modification of photovoltaic SnS by alloying". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868974. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1383527.
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@article{osti_1383527,
title = {Structural and electronic modification of photovoltaic SnS by alloying},
author = {Vidal, Julien and Lany, Stephan and Francis, Jason and Kokenyesi, Robert and Tate, Janet},
abstractNote = {Emergence of a terawatt scalable photovoltaic (PV) thin film technology is currently impeded by the limited supply of relatively rare elements like In or Te, which has spurred active research in recent years on earth-abundant PV materials. Instead of searching for alternative PV materials, we approach the problem here by structural modification through alloying of a known PV material, namely, tin sulfide. Although SnS is a strong visible light absorber that is naturally p-doped, its indirect band gap reduces the open circuit voltage of SnS-based solar cells. The anisotropic crystal structure results in undesirable anisotropic transport properties. Based on the observation that the isoelectronic sulfides MgS, CaS, and SrS assume the rock-salt structure, we use ab initio calculations to explore the structure and electronic properties of metastable Sn1-x(II)xS (II = Mg, Ca, Sr) alloys, finding that the isotropic rock-salt phase is stabilized above x = 0.2–0.3, and predicting direct band gaps in the range of interest for PV applications, i.e., 0.6–1.5 eV for Ca and Sr alloying. Here, we subsequently synthesized such Sn1-x(Ca)xS films by pulsed laser deposition, confirmed the cubic rock-salt structure, and observed optical band gaps between 1.1 and 1.3 eV. These results highlight the potential of structural modification by alloying as a route to widen the otherwise limited materials base for promising earth-abundant materials.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4868974},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
number = 11,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4868974
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