New Oxysulfide Perovskites for Photocatalytic and Photovoltaic Applications

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Perovskite materials are ternary metal oxides known to be useful as solar cell materials where solar energy can be absorbed and stored. They are stable in aqueous and acidic environments and are generally composed of highly abundant elements; however, they are plagued by low photovoltaic efficiencies and low stability. The primary challenge is to increase this efficiency while maintaining the stability and use of abundant, nontoxic elements.

To address this issue at a fundamental materials chemistry level, this project, supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research, is focused on establishing synthetic strategies to prepare a new class of materials, sulfide and oxysulfide perovskites. The syntheses of sulfide and oxysulfide perovskites are not well known or understood.

Outcomes from this project will lay the foundation to impact solar energy technology to benefit society’s future energy needs. Additionally, as part of this project, graduate and undergraduate students are actively involved in hands-on training, scientific workshops and conferences, and mentorship experiences. A suite of literature-based active learning and teaching tools on solid-state and materials chemistry is developed as part of this project as well and will be disseminated via the IONIC VIPeR website.

PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARY

This project, supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research, is focused on establishing synthetic strategies of a new class of sulfide and oxysulfide perovskite materials, for which the syntheses are currently unknown or not understood. Conventional perovskites, ABO3 (A = s, d, or f metal and B = transition metal) are appealing solar energy materials because of their stability and inclusion of highly abundant elements.

One major limitation of ABO3, however, is that they typically possess band gaps that are too large to efficiently absorb and store solar energy. The motivation for synthesizing novel sulfide and oxysulfide perovskites, ABS3 and AB(O,S)3 is to establish stable inorganic materials that could exhibit higher efficiency when integrated into photovoltaic devices.

This project provides scientific training and career development of graduate and undergraduate students through hands-on experiences, scientific workshops and conferences, and mentorship. A suite of literature-based active learning and teaching tools advancing solid-state and materials chemistry education of chemistry undergraduates is developed as part of this project as well.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.