Issue 24, 2018

Sustainable p-type copper selenide solar material with ultra-large absorption coefficient

Abstract

Earth-abundant solar absorber materials with large optical absorption coefficients in the visible enable the fabrication of low-cost high-efficiency single and multi-junction thin-film solar cells. Here, we report a new p-type semiconductor, Cu4TiSe4 (CTSe), featuring indirect (1.15 eV) and direct (1.34 eV) band gaps in the optimal range for solar absorber materials. CTSe crystallizes in a new noncentrosymmetric cubic structure (space group F[4 with combining macron]3c) in which CuSe4 tetrahedra share edges and corners to form octahedral anionic clusters, [Cu4Se4]4−, which in turn share corners to build the three-dimensional framework, with Ti4+ ions located at tetrahedral interstices within the channels. The unique crystal structure and the Ti 3d orbital character of the conduction band of CTSe give rise to near-optimal band gap values and ultra-large absorption coefficients (larger than 105 cm−1) throughout the visible range, which are promising for scalable low-cost high-efficiency CTSe-based thin-film solar cells.

Graphical abstract: Sustainable p-type copper selenide solar material with ultra-large absorption coefficient

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
22 Feb 2018
Accepted
01 May 2018
First published
15 May 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 5405-5414

Sustainable p-type copper selenide solar material with ultra-large absorption coefficient

E. M. Chen, L. Williams, A. Olvera, C. Zhang, M. Zhang, G. Shi, J. T. Heron, L. Qi, L. J. Guo, E. Kioupakis and P. F. P. Poudeu, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 5405 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC00873F

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