Searching of the Low-Cost Solar-Cell Materials by Modeling and Simulations

Professor Qiming Zhang

Department of Physics

The University of Texas at Arlington

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

3:30 p.m., Room 104, Physics Building

Refreshments

3:15 p.m., Room 104

ABSTRACT: Solar photovoltaics (PV) is a potential promising option for a low-carbon future. Cost-effective, earth-abundant and environmentally benign PV materials are needed to reach this goal. Semiconducting transition metal chalcogenides group provide a rich candidates pool for the consideration. The ionically-bonded semiconductors can be processed by wet-chemical methods near room temperatures, instead of the high-temperature vacuum-based methods for covalently-bonded semiconductors. A basic requirement for these inorganic materials is that they still possessed excellent electrical properties, including high carrier mobility, high absorption coefficient, and suitable band gap (~1.4 eV).

In this colloquium, I will present our recent first-principles computational studies on some potential materials for this purpose. A brief review of the methodology and the study in this field will be given. Then I will focus on the influence of isovalent doping on the band edges of some potential materials for solar energy conversion, such as Fe2O3 and SnSe2. It is found that the optimal band gap for solar energy applications is reachable by the proper selections of base materials and dopants.