Issue 7, 2016

Band gap and work function tailoring of SnO2 for improved transparent conducting ability in photovoltaics

Abstract

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are an essential component in modern optoelectronic devices, such as solar panels and touch screens. Their ability to combine transparency and conductivity, two properties that are normally mutually exclusive, have made them the subject of intense research over the last 50 years. SnO2, doped with F or Sb, is a widely used and relatively inexpensive transparent conducting material, however, its electronic structure leaves scope for improving its properties for use in many TCO applications, especially in solar cell devices. Here we show using density functional theory that incorporation of Pb into SnO2 reduces the band gap through lowering of the conduction band minimum, thereby increasing the electron affinity. The electron effective mass at the conduction band minimum decreases alongside the band gap, indicating improved charge carrier mobilities. Furthermore, the calculated optical absorption properties show the alloys retain their transparency in the visible spectrum. Our results suggest that alloying of PbO2 with SnO2 will enable improved electronic properties, including a highly tuneable workfunction, which will open up the material for other applications, such as hole injection layers in organic photovoltaics.

Graphical abstract: Band gap and work function tailoring of SnO2 for improved transparent conducting ability in photovoltaics

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
03 Dec 2015
Accepted
14 Jan 2016
First published
14 Jan 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,4, 1467-1475

Author version available

Band gap and work function tailoring of SnO2 for improved transparent conducting ability in photovoltaics

A. M. Ganose and D. O. Scanlon, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 1467 DOI: 10.1039/C5TC04089B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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