Zinc alloyed iron pyrite ternary nanocrystals for band gap broadening

Baodong Mao; Qingfeng Dong; Zhengguo Xiao; Christopher L. Exstrom; Scott A. Darveau; Thomas E. Webber; Bjorn D. Lund; Hui Huang; Zhenhui Kang; Jinsong Huang

doi:10.1039/C3TA11039G

Zinc alloyed iron pyrite ternary nanocrystals for band gap broadening†

Baodong Mao,^a Qingfeng Dong,^a Zhengguo Xiao,^a Christopher L. Exstrom,^b Scott A. Darveau,^b Thomas E. Webber,^b Bjorn D. Lund,^b Hui Huang,^c Zhenhui Kang^c and Jinsong Huang*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA
E-mail: jhuang2@unl.edu
Fax: +1-4024721465
Tel: +1-4024722640

^b Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Kearney, Nebraska 68849, USA

^c Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou, China

Abstract

Iron pyrite (FeS₂) is one of the most promising photovoltaic materials with high natural abundance and low cost but with a lower-than-optimum band gap of 0.95 eV. Here the feasibility of band gap broadening was explored by zinc alloying of FeS₂ nanocrystals (NCs). A significant amount of zinc up to 6 at%, 30 times higher than previously reported, was incorporated into the FeS₂ NCs. In contrast to band gap bowing predicted by first-principles calculations, a band gap enlargement of ∼0.1 eV was observed by zinc alloying. A more than five-times reduction of dark current in the zinc alloyed FeS₂ photoconductor was observed and should ascribe to the increased band gap.

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Zinc alloyed iron pyrite ternary nanocrystals for band gap broadening†

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