TY - JOUR
T1 - Novel Solar Cell Materials
T2 - Insights from First-Principles
AU - Sai Gautam, Gopalakrishnan
AU - Senftle, Thomas P.
AU - Alidoust, Nima
AU - Carter, Emily Ann
N1 - Funding Information:
E.A.C. thanks the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DESC0002120 for funding this project. The authors thank Ms. Nari L. Baughman for a careful reading of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/12/6
Y1 - 2018/12/6
N2 - Although silicon solar cells currently dominate the market share for photovoltaic (PV) devices, it is important to explore other materials and device configurations that could be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to produce, as well as potentially more efficient at energy conversion. Here, we review some of our recent theoretical work aimed at accurate evaluation of key materials properties associated with optimizing alternative PV materials. These include potential new light absorbers and transparent conductors in devices ranging from traditional PVs to tandem dye-sensitized solar cells and thin-film PVs to intermediate band gap PVs. We specifically focus on two materials families: transition-metal oxides (TMOs), such as NiO, CoO, FeO, and Cu2O, and mixed metal sulfides, such as Cu2ZnSnS4. Both families are p-type semiconductors being explored as less expensive solar cell components.
AB - Although silicon solar cells currently dominate the market share for photovoltaic (PV) devices, it is important to explore other materials and device configurations that could be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to produce, as well as potentially more efficient at energy conversion. Here, we review some of our recent theoretical work aimed at accurate evaluation of key materials properties associated with optimizing alternative PV materials. These include potential new light absorbers and transparent conductors in devices ranging from traditional PVs to tandem dye-sensitized solar cells and thin-film PVs to intermediate band gap PVs. We specifically focus on two materials families: transition-metal oxides (TMOs), such as NiO, CoO, FeO, and Cu2O, and mixed metal sulfides, such as Cu2ZnSnS4. Both families are p-type semiconductors being explored as less expensive solar cell components.
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b08185
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b08185
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056255831
SN - 1932-7447
VL - 122
SP - 27107
EP - 27126
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
IS - 48
ER -