Sn-doped CdTe as promising intermediate-band photovoltaic material
M. A. Flores, E. Menéndez-Proupin, +1 author J. Peña
Published 25 January 2017
Physics, Materials Science
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
The formation energies, charge transition levels and quasiparticle defect states of several tin-related impurities are investigated within the DFT + GW formalism. The optical spectrum obtained from the solution of the Bethe–Salpeter equation shows that the absorption strongly increases in the sub-bandgap region after doping, suggesting a two-step photoexcitation process that facilitates transitions from photons with insufficient energy to cause direct transitions from the valence to the conduction band via an intermediate-band. We propose Sn-doped CdTe as a promising candidate for the development of high-efficiency solar cells, which could potentially overcome the Shockley–Queisser limit. Collapse