First principles study on copper and iridium co-doped SrTiO3 for shifting the optical absorption into visible region

Abstract

Density functional theory (DFT) investigation is performed to observe the opto-electronic properties of iridium and copper co-doped structure of Pristine SrTiO3 (Cubic Perovskite). Results suggest that copper and iridium co-doped structure of SrTiO3 has significant absorption in visible region of the spectrum, which is a result of red shift phenomenon in the wavelength range 400–750 nm observed in this structure. However, in individual copper and iridium structures the optical absorption is mainly in ultraviolet (UV) region which limits its use in light-based devices and applications. The shift in absorption from UV to visible region in the co-doped structure extracts the maximum utilization of solar light and finds wide range of optical applications like solar cells. Refractive index and dielectric constants were also calculated and their peak values were found to be in correlation with the peaks in absorption spectrum.