Title
Solution-Grown Sodium Bismuth Dichalcogenides: Toward Earth-Abundant, Biocompatible Semiconductors
Publication Date
2-16-2018
Department
Ames Laboratory; Chemistry
Campus Units
Ames Laboratory, Chemistry
OSTI ID+
1722888
Report Number
IS-J 10346
DOI
10.1021/jacs.7b12873
Journal Title
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Volume Number
140
Issue Number
10
First Page
3736
Last Page
3742
Abstract
Many technologically relevant semiconductors contain toxic, heavily regulated (Cd, Pb, As), or relatively scarce (Li, In) elements and often require high manufacturing costs. We report a facile, general, low-temperature, and size tunable (4–28 nm) solution phase synthesis of ternary APnE2 semiconductors based on Earth-abundant and biocompatible elements (A = Na, Pn = Bi, E = S or Se). The observed experimental band gaps (1.20–1.45 eV) fall within the ideal range for solar cells. Computational investigation of the lowest energy superstructures that result from “coloring”, caused by mixed cation sites present in their rock salt lattice, agrees with other better-known members of this family of materials. Our synthesis unlocks a new class of low cost and environmentally friendly ternary semiconductors that show properties of interest for applications in energy conversion.
DOE Contract Number(s)
AC02-07CH11358
Language
en
Department of Energy Subject Categories
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Publisher
Iowa State University Digital Repository, Ames IA (United States)