Title
Elucidating the optical properties of novel heterolayered materials based on MoTe2-InN for photovoltaic applications
Date Issued
28 May 2015
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Rocha A.R.
Universidad Estatal Paulista
Publisher(s)
American Chemical Society
Abstract
Efficient excitonic solar cells preferably require materials with an optical gap in the near-infrared region and high absorption coefficients. Additionally, it is well-known that heterostructures open the possibility of tailoring device properties by taking advantage of the characteristics of individual materials, so that new practical applications can arise. Regarding these ingredients, we propose that the recent synthesized monolayer MoTe2 and the InN compound seem to favorably fit into this category. We carry out ab initio density functional theory calculations to study the electronic and optical properties of heterostructures based on MoTe2 and InN monolayers. Our results indicate that one of the most stable heterostructures presents type-II band alignments and photoexcited states in the energy range of 1.1-1.3 eV, where power conversion efficiency reaches its maximum. We also propose a prototypical device based on these materials and study their potential as excitonic solar cells. In doing so, we show that heterostructures based on MoTe2-InN are able to combine the near-infrared absorption of MoTe2 together with the low refractive index and high absorbance of InN to give rise to improved optical properties such as the formation of photoexcited states with lower binding energies, when compared with the individual monolayers, long exciton lifetimes in the nanosecond scale, as well as high power density ratios. These overall results point toward the potential of MoTe2-InN heterostructures for photovoltaic applications.
Start page
11886
End page
11895
Volume
119
Issue
21
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Química física
Óptica
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84930681868
Source
Journal of Physical Chemistry C
ISSN of the container
19327447
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus