Oxide Heterostructures for Efficient Solar Cells

Abstract

We propose an unexplored class of absorbing materials for high-efficiency solar cells: heterostructures of transition-metal oxides. In particular, LaVO_3 grown on SrTiO_3 has a direct band gap ~1.1 eV in the optimal range as well as an internal potential gradient, which can greatly help to separate the photo-generated electron-hole pairs. Furthermore, oxide heterostructures afford the flexibility to combine LaVO_3 with other materials such as LaFeO_3 in order to achieve even higher efficiencies with band-gap graded solar cells. We use density-functional theory to demonstrate these features.

5 pages, 5 figures main paper + 3 pages, 3 figures supplemental information; as published

References in corpus (11)

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• Generalized gradient approximation for solids and their surfaces
• Magnetic effects at the interface between nonmagnetic oxides
• Why Some Interfaces Cannot be Sharp
• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Interface ferromagnetism and orbital reconstruction in BiFeO3- La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 heterostructures
• Polar Discontinuity Doping of the LaVO_3/SrTiO_3 Interface
• Ferromagnetic/superconducting proximity effect in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 / YBa2Cu3O7 superlattices
• Built-in and induced polarization across LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ heterojunctions
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Cited by in corpus (41)

• Oxide spin-orbitronics: spin-charge interconversion and topological spin textures
• Origin of two-dimensional electron gases at oxide interfaces: insights from theory
• Electronics with correlated oxides: SrVO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ as a Mott transistor
• Role of impact ionization in the thermalization of photo-excited Mott insulators
• Persistent photoconductivity in 2-dimensional electron gases at different oxide interfaces
• Guaranteed convergence of the Kohn-Sham equations
• Ultrafast separation of photo-doped carriers in Mott antiferromagnets
• Emergent ultrafast phenomena in correlated oxides and heterostructures
• Two-dimensional electron gas at the PbTiO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ interface: an ab initio study
• Quantum Boltzmann equation for strongly correlated systems: comparison to dynamical mean field theory
• Photo-induced nonequilibrium states in Mott insulators
• Impact ionization processes in the steady state of a driven Mott insulating layer coupled to metallic leads
• Hund excitations and the efficiency of Mott solar cells
• Cubic interaction parameters for t2g Wannier orbitals
• High field magneto-transport in two-dimensional electron gas LaAlO3/SrTiO3
• Thickness Dependent Carrier Density at the Surface of SrTiO3 (111) Slabs
• Eliminating radiative losses in long-range exciton transport
• Thermally excited multi-band conduction in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures exhibiting magnetic scattering
• Electronic structure and photo absorption property of pseudo-cubic perovskites CH${}_3$NH${}_3$PbX${}_3$ (X=I, Br) including van der Waals interaction
• Two components for one resistivity in LaVO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures
• Towards high-temperature coherence-enhanced transport in few-atomic layers heterostructures
• Enhancement of impact ionization in Hubbard clusters by disorder and next-nearest-neighbor hopping
• Towards Mott design by $\delta$-doping of strongly correlated titanates
• (LaTiO${}_3$)${}_n$/(LaVO${}_3$)${}_n$ as a model system for unconventional charge transfer and polar metallicity
• Signatures of spin-orbital states of ${t_{2g}}^2$ system in the optical conductivity : The case of $R$VO${}_3$ ($R$=Y and La)
• Impact ionization processes in a photodriven Mott insulator: influence of phononic dissipation
• Impact ionization and multiple photon absorptions in the two-dimensional photoexcited Hubbard model
• Finite-temperature phase diagram of (111) nickelate bilayers
• Nitride Multilayers as a Platform for Parallel Two-Dimensional Electron-Hole Gases: MgO/ScN(111)
• Photoexcitations in the Hubbard model -- generalized Loschmidt amplitude analysis of impact ionization in small clusters
• Enhanced charge-transfer character in the monoclinic phase of Mott-insulator LaVO3 thin film
• Coupling of electronic and structural degrees of freedom in vanadate superlattices
• Electric-field assisted optimal quantum transport of photo-excitations in polar heterostructures
• Comparing scattering rates from Boltzmann and dynamical mean-field theory
• Dynamical Mean-Field Theory description of the voltage induced transition in a non-equilibrium superconductor
• Hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopy of LaVO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$: Band alignment and electronic reconstruction
• Efficient Magnus-type integrators for solar energy conversion in Hubbard models
• Photodriven Mott insulating heterostructures: A steady-state study of impact ionization processes
• Quantized electronic fine structure with large anisotropy in ferromagnetic Fe films
• Coupling between tilts and charge carriers at polar-nonpolar perovskite interfaces
• Layer-dependent electronic structures and magnetic ground states of polar-polar $\mathrm{LaV}{\mathrm{O}}_3/KTa{\mathrm{O}}_3$ (001) heterostructures