Conductors materials have free electrons which move in random direction meaning it does not generate current. the reason is that in conductors materials, conduction bands, and valence bands are not separated which means no energy gap, but in semiconductors, there is a band gap (Eg).
Clear answer can be found in link below :
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-solar-PV-cells-use-semiconductors-and-not-conductors-which-have-significantly-lower-band-gap
In solar cells, photovoltaic effect is 3 step process; (i) absorption of photons and generation of electron-hole pairs (excitons) (ii) separation of electron and hole through appropriate p-n junction arrangement, and (iii) extraction of charge carriers to the external circuit.
Conductors are not a good choice as fail in (ii) step.
simply, solar cell is nearly the contrary of light emitting diode which emits light under voltage applied when electron hole pairs recombine
I want to know the best source for models of topological insulator.
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