A firm understanding of the photovoltaic effect, by which light can be converted into useful electrical energy, lies at the core of solar cell design and development.
A firm understanding of the photovoltaic effect, by which light can be converted into useful electrical energy, lies at the core of solar cell design and development. Today, most solar cells employ p–n junctions, leveraging the photovoltaic effect that occurs at the interface of different materials. However, such designs are constrained by the Shockley–Queisser limit, which puts a hard cap on their theoretical maximum solar conversion efficiency and imposes a tradeoff between the voltage and current that can be produced via the photovoltaic effect.
However, certain crystalline materials exhibit an intriguing phenomenon known as the bulk photovoltaic (BPV) effect. In materials lacking internal symmetry, electrons excited by light can move coherently in a specific direction instead of returning to their original positions. This results in what is known as “shift currents,” leading to the generation of the BPV effect. Although experts have predicted alpha-phase indium selenide (α-In2Se3) to be a possible candidate to demonstrate this phenomenon, it hasn’t yet been experimentally investigated.
To fill this knowledge gap, a research team from Japan led by Associate Professor Noriyuki Urakami from Shinshu University set out to explore the BPV effect in α-In2Se3. Their findings were published in Volume 125, Issue 7 of Applied Physics Letters on August 12, 2024 and made available online on August 14, 2024.
Read More: Shinshu University
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