IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms4789.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Highly efficient carrier multiplication in PbS nanosheets

Author

Listed:
  • Michiel Aerts

    (Optoelectronic Materials Section, Delft University of Technology)

  • Thomas Bielewicz

    (Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Hamburg)

  • Christian Klinke

    (Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Hamburg)

  • Ferdinand C. Grozema

    (Optoelectronic Materials Section, Delft University of Technology)

  • Arjan J. Houtepen

    (Optoelectronic Materials Section, Delft University of Technology)

  • Juleon M. Schins

    (Optoelectronic Materials Section, Delft University of Technology)

  • Laurens D. A. Siebbeles

    (Optoelectronic Materials Section, Delft University of Technology)

Abstract

Semiconductor nanocrystals are promising for use in cheap and highly efficient solar cells. A high efficiency can be achieved by carrier multiplication (CM), which yields multiple electron-hole pairs for a single absorbed photon. Lead chalcogenide nanocrystals are of specific interest, since their band gap can be tuned to be optimal to exploit CM in solar cells. Interestingly, for a given photon energy CM is more efficient in bulk PbS and PbSe, which has been attributed to the higher density of states. Unfortunately, these bulk materials are not useful for solar cells due to their low band gap. Here we demonstrate that two-dimensional PbS nanosheets combine the band gap of a confined system with the high CM efficiency of bulk. Interestingly, in thin PbS nanosheets virtually the entire excess photon energy above the CM threshold is used for CM, in contrast to quantum dots, nanorods and bulk lead chalcogenide materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Michiel Aerts & Thomas Bielewicz & Christian Klinke & Ferdinand C. Grozema & Arjan J. Houtepen & Juleon M. Schins & Laurens D. A. Siebbeles, 2014. "Highly efficient carrier multiplication in PbS nanosheets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-5, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4789
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4789
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4789
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms4789?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4789. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.