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@PHDTHESIS{Schena:202779,
author = {Schena, Timo},
title = {{F}irst-{P}rinciples {S}tudy on {P}yrites and {M}arcasites
for {P}hotovoltaic {A}pplication},
volume = {254},
school = {RWTH Aachen},
type = {Dr.},
address = {Jülich},
publisher = {Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Zentralbibliothek, Verlag},
reportid = {FZJ-2015-04961},
isbn = {978-3-95806-041-8},
series = {Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich Reihe Energie $\&$
Umwelt / Energy $\&$ Environment},
pages = {206 S.},
year = {2015},
note = {RWTH Aachen, Diss., 2015},
abstract = {This thesis deals with first-principles calculations for
pyrite and marcasite compounds, with a particular focus on
their suitability for photovoltaic applications. Their
electronic structure and their optical properties are
thoroughly investigated within density-functional theory
(DFT) using various exchange-correlation functionals, among
them sophisticated hybrid functionals. To account for
electronic excitations the many-body perturbation theory in
the GW approximation has also been exploited. The
investigation of the electronic and optical properties of
iron pyrite (FeS$_{2}$) covers an essential part of this
thesis, since iron pyrite is reported to be a promising
material for photovoltaic applications due to its large
optical absorption, a suitable band gap and large
photocurrents. Furthermore, iron pyrite consists of abundant
elements, and thus would allow for a large-scale and
long-term utilization. However, iron pyrite solar cells
exhibit only an open-circuit voltage of merely 200 mV,
leading to a small conversion efficiency of 3\%, which
disqualifies iron pyrite for photovoltaic applications at
present. This thesis exposes that the question about the
size of the fundamental and optical band gap of iron pyrite,
both, theoretically and experimentally, might not be settled
yet. Low-intensity contributions in the optical absorption
might complicate the determination of the optical band gap,
and the GW results show that the fundamental band gap might
be much smaller than expected. Therefore, the small
fundamental band gap of pristine iron pyrite in the bulk
phase might be already responsible for the low open-circuit
voltage. Since interfaces and surfaces play an important
role for the photovoltaic performance, the electronic
structure of the most stable iron pyrite surfaces is also
discussed, revealing that surface states of Fe 3d character
might act as charge recombination centers. First attempts to
passivate these surface states indicate that heavier adatoms
are more suitable than light ad atoms. The application of
the GW approximation on iron pyrite yields an unconventional
reduction of the band gap compared to the “plain” DFT
results, whereas largely overestimated band gaps are
obtained using hybrid functionals. By extending the
calculations to other pyrite compounds (RuS$_{2}$,
OsS$_{2}$, NiP$_{2}$ and ZnS$_{2}$) and to the structurally
closely related marcasite compounds (FeS$_{2}$, FeSe$_{2}$
and FeTe$_{2}$), it is shown that the interplay of
transitions between $\textit{p}$ and $\textit{d}$ states and
the screening caused by the d states is responsible for this
peculiar behavior. Finally, a particular focus is set on
FeS$_{2}$ marcasite, which is reported to coexist with the
pyrite phase, but is presumed to degrade the photovoltaic
performance. However, the results in this thesis indicate
that iron marcasite might be better suited for photovoltaic
applications than iron pyrite.},
cin = {PGI-1 / IAS-1 / JARA-FIT},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)PGI-1-20110106 / I:(DE-Juel1)IAS-1-20090406 /
$I:(DE-82)080009_20140620$},
pnm = {142 - Controlling Spin-Based Phenomena (POF3-142) / 143 -
Controlling Configuration-Based Phenomena (POF3-143)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-142 / G:(DE-HGF)POF3-143},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11 / PUB:(DE-HGF)3},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/202779},
}