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Xue Y, Lin C, Zhong J, Huang D, Persson C. Group-IIIA element doped BaSnS 2 as a high efficiency absorber for intermediate band solar cell from a first-principles insight. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:8380-8389. [PMID: 38404232 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05824g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
The quest for high-performance solar cell absorbers has garnered significant attention in the field of photovoltaic research in recent years. To overcome the Shockley-Queisser (SQ) limit of ∼31% for single junction solar cell and realize higher power conversion efficiency, the concept of an intermediate band solar cell (IBSC) has been proposed. This involves the incorporation of an intermediate band (IB) to assist the three band-edge absorptions within the single absorber layer. BaSnS2 has an appropriate width of its forbidden gap in order to host an IB. In this work, doping of BaSnS2 was studied based on hybrid functional calculations. The results demonstrated that isolated and half-filled IBs were generated with suitable energy states in the band gap region after group-IIIA element (i.e., Al, Ga, and In) doping at Sn site. The theoretical efficiencies under one sun illumination of 39.0%, 44.3%, and 39.7% were obtained for 25% doping concentration of Al, Ga, and In, respectively; thus, larger than the single-junction SQ-limit. Furthermore, the dopants have lower formation energies when substituting the Sn site compare to occupying the Ba and S sites, and that helps realizing a proper IB with three band-edge absorptions. Therefore, group-IIIA element doped BaSnS2 is proposed as a high-efficiency absorber for IBSC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Xue
- Guangxi Novel Battery Materials Research Center of Engineering Technology, State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
| | - Changqing Lin
- Guangxi Novel Battery Materials Research Center of Engineering Technology, State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
| | - Jiancheng Zhong
- Guangxi Novel Battery Materials Research Center of Engineering Technology, State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
| | - Dan Huang
- Guangxi Novel Battery Materials Research Center of Engineering Technology, State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Precision Navigation Technology and Application, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
| | - Clas Persson
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Department of Physics and Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, University of Oslo, NO-0316, Oslo, Norway
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Ma X, Chu W, Wang Y, Li Z, Yang J. Increasing the Efficiency of Photocatalytic Water Splitting via Introducing Intermediate Bands. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:779-784. [PMID: 36652586 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Photocatalytic water splitting is a potential way to utilize solar energy. To be practically useful, it is important to have a high solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency. In this study, we propose a conceptually new photocatalytic water splitting model based on intermediate bands (IBs). In this new model, introducing IBs within the band gap can significantly increase the STH efficiency limit (from 30.7% to 48.1% without an overpotential and from 13.4% to 36.2% with overpotentials) compared to that in conventional single-band gap photocatalytic water splitting. First-principles calculations indicate that N-doped TiO2, Bi-doped TiO2, and P-doped ZnO have suitable IBs that can be used to construct IB photocatalytic water splitting systems. The STH efficiency limits of these three doped systems are 10.0%, 12.0%, and 19.0%, respectively, while those of pristine TiO2 and ZnO without IB are only 0.9% and 1.6%, respectively. The IB photocatalytic water splitting model proposed in this study opens a new avenue for photocatalytic water splitting design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinbo Ma
- Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, China
| | - Wenjun Chu
- Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, China
| | - Youxi Wang
- Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, China
| | - Zhenyu Li
- Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, China
| | - Jinlong Yang
- Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui230026, China
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Ma X, Li Z. The Important Role of Optical Absorption in Determining the Efficiency of Intermediate Band Solar Cells and a Design Principle for Perovskite Doping. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:2012-2018. [PMID: 35195001 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The efficiency of solar cells can be increased by introducing an intermediate band (IB) in the band gap. Considering that absorption within the band gap is typically weak, the efficiency of IB solar cells was overestimated previously, with a strong enough optical absorption assumed. Here, we propose a new formulism to calculate the limit of the efficiency of IB solar cells with the ideal absorption assumption removed, which can be used to evaluate the effect of absorption. New IB materials are designed via doping double perovskite, which has a relatively strong absorption within the band gap with both d-p and s-p transitions. The limit of the efficiency of a 2 μm thick Sn-doped Cs2AgBiBr6 is 38.6% under the AM1.5G spectrum, which is only ∼6% smaller than the ideal-absorption estimation. Results presented here provide a new dimension in the rational design of IB solar cell materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinbo Ma
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - Zhenyu Li
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
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