Abstract
Earth-abundant antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3), or simply antimonite, is a promising material for capturing natural energies like solar power and heat flux. The layered structure, held up by weak van-der Waals forces, induces anisotropic behaviors in carrier transportation and thermal expansion. Here, we used stress as mechanical stimuli to destabilize the layered structure and observed the structural phase transition to a three-dimensional (3D) structure. We combined in situ x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and first-principles calculations to study the evolution of structure and bandgap width up to 20.1 GPa. The optical band gap energy of Sb2S3 followed a two-step hierarchical sequence at approximately 4 and 11 GPa. We also revealed that the first step of change is mainly caused by the redistribution of band states near the conduction band maximum. The second transition is controlled by an isostructural phase transition, with collapsed layers and the formation of a higher coordinated bulky structure. The band gap reduced from 1.73 eV at ambient to 0.68 eV at 15 GPa, making it a promising thermoelectric material under high pressure.
Highlights
Earth-abundant antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3), or antimonite, is a promising material for capturing natural energies like solar power and heat flux
Their broad implications are still restricted by the materials cost, reliability, and power conversion efficiency (PCE)[6]
Its performance is dragged by self-trapping states, which limits the upper approximately maximum open circuit voltage at around 0.8 V and its realistic PCE is still lower than 16%9,14–17
Summary
Earth-abundant antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3), or antimonite, is a promising material for capturing natural energies like solar power and heat flux. The development of solar cells has enjoyed its blossom since the last decade[2,3,4,5] Their broad implications are still restricted by the materials cost, reliability, and power conversion efficiency (PCE)[6]. Sb2S3 is a promising solar energy absorber with affordable cost, good Earth abundance and non-toxic composition[7,8,9]. It features a relatively low melting point (550 °C), which helps to synthesize high quality film at below 350 °C10. Applying pressure stiffens bonds and alters electronic structures, which can be used as an environmental-friendly method to engineer band gap energy
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