As the global population increases and our dependence on energy grows, we need to develop technologies that can generate energy efficiently without release of harmful pollutants to our environment. Unfortunately, many current and emerging semiconductors investigated for uses in energy technologies contain toxic (Cd, Pb, As) or relatively scarce (Li, In) elements, and often require high manufacturing costs. We demonstrate that Earth-abundant and biocompatible NaBiE<sub>2</sub> semiconductors (E = S or Se) can be synthesized by a low-temperature, solution-phase synthesis with control over nanocrystal size (4-28 nm). We show that NaBiE<sub>2</sub> have 1.20-1.45 eV band gaps that fall within the ideal range for solar cells. These nanocrystals were fully characterized by XRD, absorption, diffuse-reflectance, TEM, SAED, EDS, IR, and XPS. We propose a reaction mechanism based on these results and phase evolution investigated over time. We also investigate the effects of different precursors on the final product. Finally, we investigate structure-property relationships through calculating the band gaps of lowest energy superstructures that result from mixed cation sites present in their rock salt lattice.

Earth-abundant and biocompatible alkali pnictogen dichalcogenide colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals

2019 Spring National Meeting

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