Savory, CN;
Ganose, AM;
Travis, W;
Atri, RS;
Palgrave, RG;
Scanlon, DO;
(2016)
An assessment of silver copper sulfides for photovoltaic applications: theoretical and experimental insights.
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
, 4
(32)
pp. 12648-12657.
10.1039/c6ta03376h.
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Abstract
As the worldwide demand for energy increases, low-cost solar cells are being looked to as a solution for the future. To attain this, non-toxic earth-abundant materials are crucial, however cell efficiencies for current materials are limited in many cases. In this article, we examine the two silver copper sulfides AgCuS and Ag3CuS2 as possible solar absorbers using hybrid density functional theory, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, XPS and Hall effect measurements. We show that both compounds demonstrate promising electronic structures and band gaps for high theoretical efficiency solar cells, based on Shockley–Queisser limits. Detailed analysis of their optical properties, however, indicates that only AgCuS should be of interest for PV applications, with a high theoretical efficiency. From this, we also calculate the band alignment of AgCuS against various buffer layers to aid in future device construction.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | An assessment of silver copper sulfides for photovoltaic applications: theoretical and experimental insights |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1039/c6ta03376h |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6ta03376h |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Technology, Chemistry, Physical, Energy & Fuels, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Chemistry, Materials Science, HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR-CELLS, TOTAL-ENERGY CALCULATIONS, WAVE BASIS-SET, THIN-FILM, LEAD IODIDE, X-RAY, PHASE-TRANSITIONS, ABSORBER MATERIAL, BAND ALIGNMENT, SEMICONDUCTORS |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1509194 |
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