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Ternary Cu3BiY3 (Y = S, Se, and Te) for Thin-Film Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2013

Mukesh Kumar  and
Clas Persson
Mukesh Kumar
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Clas Persson
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden. Department of Physics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1048 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway.
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Abstract

Very recently, Cu3BiS3 has been suggested as an alternative material for photovoltaic (PV) thin-film technologies. In this work, we analyze the electronic and optical properties of Cu3BiY3 with the anion elements Y = S, Se, and Te, employing a first-principles approach within the density function theory. We find that the three Cu3BiY3 compounds have indirect band gaps and the gap energies are in the region of 1.2–1.7 eV. The energy dispersions of the lowest conduction bands are small, and therefore the direct gap energies are only ∼0.1 eV larger than the fundamental gap energies. The flat conduction bands are explained by the presence of localized Bi p-states in the band gap region. Flat energy dispersion implies a large optical absorption, and the calculations reveal that the absorption coefficient of Cu3BiY3 is larger than 105 cm−1 for photon energies of ∼2.5 eV. The absorption is stronger than other Cu-S based materials like CuInS2 and Cu2ZnSnS4. Thereby, Cu3BiY3 has the potential to be a suitable material in thin-film PV technologies.

Keywords

optical propertiesphotovoltaicelectronic structure
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1538: Symposium C – Compound Semiconductors: Thin-Film Photovoltaics, LEDs and Smart Energy Controls , 2013 , pp. 235 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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