Iron Chalcogenide Photovoltaic Absorbers

An integrated computational and experimental study of FeS₂ pyrite reveals that phase coexistence is an important factor limiting performance as a thin-film solar absorber. This phase coexistence is suppressed with the ternary materials Fe₂SiS₄ and Fe₂GeS₄, which also exhibit higher band gaps than FeS₂. Thus, the ternaries provide a new entry point for development of thin-film absorbers and high-efficiency photovoltaics.