Khadijatul Kubra1, Md Rafiqul Islam1, Md Sakib Hasan Khan1, Muhammad Shaffatul Islam2, Md Tanvir Hasan3. 1. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Khulna-9203, Bangladesh. 2. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, World University of Bangladesh (WUB), Dhaka 1205, Bangladesh. 3. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Jashore University of Science and Technology (JUST), Jashore 7408, Bangladesh.
Abstract
Based on the first-principles density functional theory, Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) trilayer homostructures for different stacking patterns are studied in this work to analyze their appropriateness in fabricating photovoltaic (PV) devices. A total of fifteen trilayer homostructures are proposed, corresponding to the suitable five stacking patterns, such as AAA, AA'A, ABA, AB'A, and A'BA' for each Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) material. Structural and energetic parameters for all the fifteen structures are evaluated and compared to find energetically stable structures, and dynamic stability is confirmed by phonon dispersion curves. All these configurations being homostructure, lattice mismatch is found to be very low (∼0.05%), unlike heterostructure, making them feasible for optoelectronics and PV applications. WSSe AAA, WSSe AA'A, and WSeTe AA'A are dynamically stable along with negative binding energy and show type-II band alignment, enabling effective spatial carrier separation of photogenerated carriers. The optical properties of dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures are also calculated, and the absorption coefficients at the visible light region are found to be ∼3.5 × 105 cm-1, which is comparable to the perovskite material absorption coefficient. Moreover, we have compared the optical characteristics of dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures with their monolayer structures to realize the significance of stacking trilayer structures. Electrical properties such as mobility and conductivity for dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures are evaluated to suggest them as a probable efficient material in PV technology.
Based on the first-principles density functional theory, Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) trilayer homostructures for different stacking patterns are studied in this work to analyze their appropriateness in fabricating photovoltaic (PV) devices. A total of fifteen trilayer homostructures are proposed, corresponding to the suitable five stacking patterns, such as AAA, AA'A, ABA, AB'A, and A'BA' for each Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) material. Structural and energetic parameters for all the fifteen structures are evaluated and compared to find energetically stable structures, and dynamic stability is confirmed by phonon dispersion curves. All these configurations being homostructure, lattice mismatch is found to be very low (∼0.05%), unlike heterostructure, making them feasible for optoelectronics and PV applications. WSSe AAA, WSSe AA'A, and WSeTe AA'A are dynamically stable along with negative binding energy and show type-II band alignment, enabling effective spatial carrier separation of photogenerated carriers. The optical properties of dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures are also calculated, and the absorption coefficients at the visible light region are found to be ∼3.5 × 105 cm-1, which is comparable to the perovskite material absorption coefficient. Moreover, we have compared the optical characteristics of dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures with their monolayer structures to realize the significance of stacking trilayer structures. Electrical properties such as mobility and conductivity for dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA'A structures are evaluated to suggest them as a probable efficient material in PV technology.
The
necessity of energy has increased tremendously over time. Unlike
fossil fuels, solar energy will not run out, and it has minimal pollution
or physical danger compared to fossil fuels. For the large-scale commercialization
of solar energy, cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) technology is needed
that produces high-efficiency solar cells. Thin-film solar cells could
be a promising solution for this target by offering low processing
and material costs.[1] For the construction
of ultrathin PV cells, two-dimensional (2D) materials have advantages
over traditional materials in having properties such as a desirable
band gap value, high conductivity, high crystalline quality, strong
light–matter interaction, high thermal stability, and extraordinary
flexibility.[2,3] Study on the applications of ultrathin
PV devices based on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and
their offshoots have been continuing.[4−8] Even though light–matter interactions in TMDs are very strong,
TMD-based PV devices have low power conversion efficiency, usually
less than one percent because of their inefficient light absorption,
limiting their practical applications.[9]Recently, a new type of TMD, Janus monolayer (ML) MoSSe, where
the chalcogenides S and Se atoms are covalently bonded with metal
Mo atoms, was successfully synthesized experimentally using the chemical
vapor deposition method by the sulfurization of ML MoSe2.[10] Correspondingly, Janus WSSe ML was synthesized
using pulsed laser ablation plasmas by implanting Se species into
the WS2 ML.[11] Similar Janus TMDs (JTMDs),
where the metal layer has different atomic species on each side, have
been documented to exhibit applicable band gaps and, within the ultraviolet
to visible light regions, show strong optical absorption by using
a first-principles study.[12,13] Because of the presence
of strong planar asymmetry in JTMDs, the difference in electronegativity
of chalcogens causes the formation of a dipole across the plane, which
induces an internal electric field.[14−16] When stacking multiple
JTMD layers, the dipoles of the individual layers are stacked and
an abrupt thin pn junction can be obtained across the multilayer system;
this way, JTMDs can be integrated effectively for optoelectronic and
PV devices.[17−19] For example, Palsgaard et al.[20] have demonstrated that three layers of stacked MoSSe Janus
structures having type-II band alignment can result in abrupt inherently
atomically thin p–n junctions across the layers, and using
such a multilayer stacked device, the photocurrent response is higher
than that of an analogous thin-film silicon device, explaining the
great prospective of stacked Janus in PV technology. Several pieces
of studies have been carried out till now to investigate the electrical,
mechanical, transport, and optical properties of ML and bilayer Janus
MXY (M = W/Mo; X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te),[21−24] where all the structures show
planar asymmetry resulting in strong dipoles across the plan, indicating
their appropriateness in PV applications.However, detailed
analysis of the electronic and optical properties
of trilayer homostrctures of Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and
Te) for different vertical stacking patterns has not been studied
yet for PV applications. Therefore, in this study, comparative studies
were performed to validate the stability of possible fifteen homostructures
for five stacking patterns of Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and
Te) trilayers. The dynamically stable structures among these fifteen
structures are chosen for a detailed study on their electronic and
optical properties to examine their significance in PVs. These studies
suggest that different stacking patterns can be considered as appropriate
candidate materials for PV technology.
Computational
Methodology
First-principles
density functional theory (DFT) calculations are conducted using the
Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) by utilizing a plane-wave
basis set.[25,26] All the geometry optimizations
are performed using generalized gradient approximation (GGA) according
to the Perdew–Buerke–Enrnzerhof (PBE) functionals as
an exchange–correlation potential[27] and by following the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno
algorithm as the numerical iterative method with a cutoff energy of
600 eV and energy relaxation of 1 × 10–5 eV/atom.
For dynamical stability prediction, phonon dispersion curves are introduced
by DFT calculation with local density approximation (LDA) as a local
exchange–correlation functional based on the Ceperley and Alder
data parameterized by Perdew and Zunger (PZ) in the CASTEP.[28] For convergence, the stress error tolerance,
Hellmann–Feynman force, and displacement tolerance cutoff are
0.05 GPa, 0.03 eV/Å, and 0.001 Å, respectively. The self-consistent
field method used has fine convergence thresholds of 1 × 10–6 eV/atom and electron–ion interactions are
defined by the norm-conserving pseudopotential incorporating the Koelling–Harmon
relativistic effect.[29] At first, electronic
properties are described using the GGA-PBE functional. Conventionally,
for homostructured semiconducting materials, band gap calculation
using the GGA-PBE functional gives an underestimated value of the
experimental band gap. Therefore, nonlocal hybrid functional Heyd–Scusena–Ernzerhof’s
(HSE06)[30] is used for band gap prediction.
On the other hand, the LDA functional considers only edge density,
so this functional underestimates band gap values. Therefore, to calculate
the band edge position and band offset, LDA-PZ with a double zeta
basis set is considered. A vacuum space of 40 Å in the z-direction is considered throughout the calculations to
avoid interaction between adjacent layers. The effect of van der Waals
(vdW) interaction between the stacking layers of homostructures is
considered through the DFT-D2 method based on the Grimme scheme.[31] The Brillouin zones are sampled with 9 ×
9 × 1 and 15 × 15 × 1 k-points for
electronic and optical property computations, respectively.The mobility of the carriers is attained by using the semi-classical
Boltzmann transport equation (BTE)[32] as
given byHere, k, n, q, ϵ, v, and τ are
electron momentum, band index, charge, electron velocity, energy,
and relaxation time, respectively. The electronic distribution of
the particles f is defined by the BTEExpression of the inverse relaxation time[32]Here, is the transition rate from state kn to kn.For each configuration, relaxation
time is obtained according to eq based on Fermi’s
golden rule by calculating the electron–phonon coupling matrix
from dynamical matrix and Hamiltonian matrix on a fine grid of k-points and n-points in the Quantum ESPRESSO[33] platform by solving DFT self-consistently. Finally,
to calculate mobility, the BTE by the relaxation time approximation
is estimated in this software package by carrying out ground state
calculation using the LDA-PZ functional.Dielectric function
ε(ω) = ε1(ω)+iε2(ω) based on DFT, where ε1(ω)
and ε2(ω) are real and imaginary parts, respectively,
are evaluated by[34]Here, Ω
= polarization density, e = electronic
charge, r = spatial position, = polarization of incident filed, and = the conduction band (CB) and valence
band (VB) wave function at k, respectively, E = Fermi energy, = VB energy, and = CB energy.The optical absorption coefficient is computed
from the dielectric
function by the following formula[35]
Results and Discussion
Structural Properties
In Janus WXY
(X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te), the electronegativity difference between
X and Y chalcogenide atoms results in an in-built cross-plan (cp)
dipole. The reason can be realized from the amount of transferred
charge from the W atom to the X and Y atoms due to the difference
in electronegativity by the analysis of Bader charge transfer.Table shows Bader
charges for Janus WXY MLs; here, differences in charge transfer suggest
unequal charge distribution, which creates an intrinsic electric field,
unlike TMDs. At first, MLs of Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and
Te) are vertically stacked to form trilayer homostructures with the
five most usual stacking patterns, AAA, AA′A, ABA, AB′A,
and A′BA′, constituting a total of fifteen configurations
for our study, which is shown in Figure .
Table 1
Bader Charges ΔQ for Janus WXY
MLs Where Positive and Negative Values Represent the Charge Depletion
and Accumulation, Respectively
WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, Te)
ΔQw (e)
ΔQx (e)
ΔQy (e)
WSSe
1.088
–0.607
–0.481
WSTe
0.801
–0.628
–0.174
WSeTe
0.564
–0.443
–0.121
Figure 1
Side views of the atomic
configurations of WSSe, WSTe, and WSeTe
trilayer homostructures. W, S, Se, and Te atoms are denoted by blue,
yellow, orange, and bronze spheres, respectively.
Side views of the atomic
configurations of WSSe, WSTe, and WSeTe
trilayer homostructures. W, S, Se, and Te atoms are denoted by blue,
yellow, orange, and bronze spheres, respectively.While stacking, lattice mismatches
of the configurations were found
to be very low (∼0.05%) because of the homostructure. For each
configuration in Figure , the top layer has a higher electronegativity material facing vacuum,
and the bottom layer has a lower electronegativity material facing
vacuum. Lattice constants of the geometrically optimized structures
of fifteen configurations were found to be very much compatible with
their ML structures (3.274 Å for Mono WSSe, 3.387 Å for
Mono WSTe, and 3.471 Å for Mono WSeTe) and also have minimal
differences among the different stacking patterns of the same material
as listed in Table S1a–c.As for the determination of dynamical stability, phonon dispersion
analysis is done using DFT calculation. Among all the fifteen configurations.
Structures WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A are dynamically
stable, not having any negative phonon branches, and comparable to
the dynamically stable Mono WSSe and Mono WSeTe phonon dispersion
curves, as shown in Figure a–e. The rest of the twelve structures are not dynamically
stable because they have negative phonon frequencies in the phonon
dispersion curves as per Figure S7. Hence,
for our further study, we will be focused mainly on WSSe AAA, WSSe
AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A configurations. The sum of vdW
and covalent radii of the stacking atoms are calculated to comment
on the possibility of the existence of a covalent bond. The smallest
cross-layer spacing in WSSe AAA (WSSe AA′A and WSeTe AA′A)
between the top layer and the middle layer is 3.81 Å (3.16 and
3.44 Å) and between the bottom layer and middle layer is 3.81
Å (3.18 and 3.44 Å), which is higher than the sum of the
covalent radii of S 1.02 Å (S 1.02 and Se 1.16 Å) and Se
1.16 Å (Se 1.16 and Te 1.35 Å) atoms, that is, 2.18 Å
(2.18 and 2.51 Å), signifying the nonappearance of covalent bonding
between the adjacent layers. To evaluate the energetical stability
at the ground state of dynamically stable structures WSSe AAA, WSSe
AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A and compare them with the rest
of the twelve structures, the binding energy of each structure is
calculated as
Figure 2
Phonon dispersion curves
for (a) Mono WSSe, (b) WSSe AAA, (c) WSSe
AA′A, (d) Mono WSeTe, (e) WSeTe AA′A, and (f) binding
energies of the equilibrium geometric configurations of WSSe, WTeS,
and WTeSe trilayer.
Phonon dispersion curves
for (a) Mono WSSe, (b) WSSe AAA, (c) WSSe
AA′A, (d) Mono WSeTe, (e) WSeTe AA′A, and (f) binding
energies of the equilibrium geometric configurations of WSSe, WTeS,
and WTeSe trilayer.Here, EWXY-trilayer and EWXY-monolayer, respectively, are the total
energies of the geometry-optimized
WXY trilayer and WXY ML structures. Figure f shows the binding energy versus the stacking
pattern curve, where all the fifteen configurations have negative
binding energy, indicating systems’ exothermic feasibility.
The binding energies for dynamically stable WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A,
and WSeTe AA′A structures are −188.560, −314.681,
and −540.290 meV, respectively. Figure f reveals that, although configurations are
homostructures for a particular material, binding energy varies for
different stacking patterns. This variation in binding energy can
be realized from different vdWs interactions due to the dissimilar
atomic orientation of stacking patterns. As per atomic orientation
dependence, stacking patterns AA′A and ABA have chalcogenide
atoms of two layers are in line with the W atom of the other layer,
unlike AAA, AB′A, and A′BA′ patterns (as shown
in Figure ). Thus,
stacking patterns AA′A and ABA have comparable vdWs interactions
and show higher negative binding energy than AAA, AB′A, and
A′BA′ stacking patterns.
Electronic
Properties
In Figure a–c, the band
gap energies are depicted for all the five stacking patterns of WSSe,
WSTe, and WSeTe materials using GGA-PBE, HSE06, and LDA-PZ functionals.
This figure compares the band gap energies of dynamically stable structures
WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A with the rest twelve
structures using GGA-PBE, HSE06, and LDA-PZ functionals. To illustrate Figure , the individual
band structure of each stacking pattern is drawn using the mentioned
functionals as shown in Figures S1-S3 and
listed in Table S1a–c. Our calculated
band gap value for ML WSSe (the band structure is shown in Figure S1a using the HSE06 functional) is 2.07
eV, which is in correspondence with the previous reports.[36,37] Computed band gap values using the HSE06 functional for dynamically
stable WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A structures
are 1.63, 1.54, and 0.17 eV, respectively. Here, variation in the
band gap of a particular WXY for different stacking patterns is because
of the difference in vdWs interactions for the dissimilar atomic orientations
of stacking patterns. Because AA′A and ABA sacking patterns
of a WXY have a comparable atomic orientation (chalcogenide atoms
of two layers are in line with the W atom of the other layer), their
band gap values are slightly different (Figure and Table S1a–c). The band gap is found indirect and direct for all the stacking
patterns of trilayer WSSe and trilayer WSeTe, respectively. Although
the stacking patterns of trilayer WSeTe show a direct band gap, these
configurations have a low band gap energy of ∼0.20 eV. Also,
among the five stacking patterns of trilayer WSTe material, AAA, ABA,
AB′A, and A′BA′ have indirect band gaps with
a low band gap energy of ∼0.10 eV using the HSE06 functional,
and the AA′A stacking pattern has a metallic band gap.
Figure 3
Comparison
of band gaps of (a) WSSe, (b) WSTe, and (c) WSeTe trilayer
of different geometric configurations from different methods, including
HSE06, GGA-PBE, and LDA-PZ functionals.
Comparison
of band gaps of (a) WSSe, (b) WSTe, and (c) WSeTe trilayer
of different geometric configurations from different methods, including
HSE06, GGA-PBE, and LDA-PZ functionals.By stacking multiple WXY layers, the dipoles of the distinct layers
are stacked, and an abrupt thin pn-junction can be found across the
multilayer structure.[18] This presence of
inherent polarization causes phenomena such as type-II band alignment.
Type-II band alignment in a multilayer structure refers to the CB
minimum (CBM) and VB maximum (VBM) being from different layers. To
demonstrate this phenomenon on our dynamically stable WSSe AAA, WSSe
AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A structures, layer projected band
structures are illustrated in Figure using the LDA-PZ functional. From Figure a,b, for dynamically stable
WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A structures, the relative position of
the CBM (at K-point) is at 0.289 and 0.258 eV, respectively, mainly
contributed by the bottom layer (red), and the relative position of
the VBM (at Γ-point) is at −0.257 and −0.174 eV,
respectively, mainly contributed by the top layer (green). From Figure c, for dynamically
stable structure WSeTe AA′A, the relative position of the CBM
(at K-point) is at 0.267 eV, mainly contributed by
the bottom layer (red), and the relative position of the VBM (at K-point)
is at −0.249 eV, mainly contributed by the top layer (green).
Therefore, WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A structures have indirect
band gaps with type-II band alignment, and the WSeTe AA′A structure
has a direct band gap with type-II band alignment. Also, to confirm
the contribution of layers to CBM and VBM, layer projected densities
of states are shown in Figures S4-S6. The
VBM belonging to the top layer acts more p-like, and CBM belonging
to the bottom layer acts more n-like,[18−20] which could enable the
photogenerated holes and electrons of a solar cell to settle in the
top layer and the bottom layer, respectively. Thus, the presence of
type-II band alignment can ensure effective spatial separation of
photogenerated electron–hole pairs by lowering the recombination
rate of photogenerated carriers. To assist this fact, the band offset
values are evaluated from the position of the band edge in the band
structure of WSSe AAA, WSSe, and WSeTe AA′A are listed in Table , which indicates
significant values of the band offset (∼0.5 eV). These large
values of band offsets suggest the presence of the nondeteriorating
parallel dipole moment for stacking layers and can act as a driving
force for separating photogenerated carriers,[22] thus confining electrons in the bottom layer and holes in the top
layer, which can increase the solar cell’s conversion efficiency.
Figure 4
Layer-dependent
band structure (LDA-PZ double zeta polarized LCAO
basis set) for the trilayer homostructure of (a) WSSe AAA, (b) WSSe
AA′A, and (c) WSeTe AA′A, and the color red, blue, and
green lines represent the projections on the bottom, middle, and top
layers, respectively.
Table 2
Band Offset
Calculated Using LDA-PZ
Double-Zeta Polarized LCAO Basis Set Where ΔEc(BL-ML)/ΔEv(BL-ML) (eV): At K Point Band Offset
Between the Bottom Layer and the Middle Layer for CBM/VBM and ΔEc(TL-ML)/ΔEv(TL-ML) (eV): At
K Point Band Offset Between the Top Layer and the Middle Layer for
CBM/VBM
WSSe AAA
WSSe AA′A
WSeTe AA′A
ΔEc(BL-ML) (eV)
0.473
0.501
0.385
ΔEc(TL-ML) (eV)
0.477
0.510
0.394
ΔEv(BL-ML) (eV)
0.475
0.488
0.383
ΔEv(TL-ML) (eV)
0.476
0.511
0.399
Layer-dependent
band structure (LDA-PZ double zeta polarized LCAO
basis set) for the trilayer homostructure of (a) WSSe AAA, (b) WSSe
AA′A, and (c) WSeTe AA′A, and the color red, blue, and
green lines represent the projections on the bottom, middle, and top
layers, respectively.For extensive insights, the atomic orbital projected
density of
states (PDOSs) is evaluated for dynamically stable WSSe AAA, WSSe
AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A structures, as shown in Figure . Figure indicates that band edge states
of the WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A configurations are mainly contributed
by the d orbital electrons of the W atom, and for WSeTe AA′A
configuration, these are p orbital electrons. As the dispersion of
d electrons is larger than p electrons, d–d transitions in
WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A configurations will result in more significant
absorption efficiency than the WSeTe AA′A configuration.
Figure 5
Atomic orbital
PDOSs (LDA-PZ) for (a) WSSe AAA, (b) WSSe AA′A,
and (c) WSeTe AA′A.
Atomic orbital
PDOSs (LDA-PZ) for (a) WSSe AAA, (b) WSSe AA′A,
and (c) WSeTe AA′A.To evaluate the effect of the number of stacking layers on band
gap, layer-dependent band gap energy is shown in Figure for dynamically stable WSSe
AAA, WSSe AA′A, and WSeTe AA′A structures. Figure reveals that as
we increase the number of stacking layers in the WSeTe AA′A
structure, band gap reduces considerably with stacking layers, and
for bilayer and trilayer structures, the band gaps are ∼0.5
and ∼0.2 eV, respectively. Therefore, we will exclude the WSeTe
AA′A structure from our further optical property analysis.
As for WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A configurations, multilayer band
gap values are compatible with the ML and relevant for efficient visible
light absorption. Even though it is not convenient to increase the
number of stacking layers to more than three because the possibility
of tunneling transmission may be reduced due to the increase in distance
between the top and bottom layers.
Figure 6
Number of layer-dependent band gap values
for WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A,
and WSeTe AA′A using HSE06.
Number of layer-dependent band gap values
for WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A,
and WSeTe AA′A using HSE06.For further analysis, to get an inspection of the recombination
time of separated photogenerated carriers in PV cells, carrier mobilities
of WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A configurations are calculated and
listed in Table .
Mobility calculations are evaluated from the carrier’s effective
mass, density, and conductivity using the dispersion band theory and
the semi-classical BTE, where conductivity is expressed as a function
of scattering and relaxation time. Both WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A
configurations show incredibly higher carrier mobility, indicating
lower recombination time, and suggesting the potential of effective
spatial carrier separation, signifying them as fascinating materials
for PV technology.
Table 3
Electron Effective Mass, me*, Electron/Hole Density in xy Plan ne/nh (cm–2), Electron/Hole Conductivity σe/σh (S/m), and Electron/Hole Mobility μe/μh (cm2/vs) at 300 K
WXY
e effectivemass
h effectivemass
e density, ne 2d
h density, nh 2d
e conductivity,
σe
h conductivity,
σh
e mobility, μe
h mobility, μh
(me*)
(mh*)
(cm–2)
(cm–2)
(S/m)
(S/m)
(cm2/vs)
(cm2/vs)
WSSe
AAA
0.348
1.427
3.45 × 100
6.13 × 102
6.37 × 10–6
9.93 × 10–4
6.27 × 104
5.49 × 104
WSSe AA′A
0.349
0.891
2.38 × 102
4.47 × 104
3.94 × 10–4
1.02e × 10–1
5.34 × 104
7.38 × 104
Optical Properties
To get the consideration
of the effectiveness of the WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A configurations
as a PV material, we have calculated core optical properties such
as dielectric function, absorption coefficient, and reflectivity and
made a comparison with the ML and bilayer with the same stacking pattern
as shown in Figure a–d. The complex dielectric function as a function of photon
energy is shown in Figure a,b to explain the dependence of optical properties of dynamically
stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A structures on the incident energy
of light. Here, for the WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A structures,
the real part of the dielectric function has no negative portion within
the energy range of 0–3.65 and 0–3.8 eV, respectively,
instructing their semiconducting nature within these ranges. For both
structures, the imaginary part of the dielectric functions shows a
first peak similar to the ML and bilayer; thus, stacking three layers
does not deteriorate the influence of the optical properties. The
photon conversion efficiency of the proposed structures has been realized
from the optical absorption coefficient values, as shown in Figure c. The significance
of the dynamically stable trilayer WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A homostructures
over the ML and bilayer structures with similar stacking patterns
can be comprehended from absorption coefficient values for the visible
light range, as indicated in Figure c. For both proposed structures, these values can reach
3.5 × 105 cm–1 (at ∼380 nm),
comparable to the hybrid halide perovskites[38] and conventional optical absorber materials such as CdTe. As the
number of stacking layers increased from single to trilayer, the absorption
coefficient increased significantly, indicating higher photon conversion
efficiency in trilayer than in mono- and bilayers. To proceed further,
the reflectivity of dynamically stable WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A
structures are evaluated and shown in Figure d. The difference in atomic orientation between
AAA and AA′A stacking patterns of the WSSe material results
in the difference in reflectivity. The highest reflectivity for WSSe
AAA is 16% (at 390 nm) for WSSe AA′A is 18% (at 390 nm) in
the visible spectrum, suggestively low, signifying the low-loss nature
of the materials. Furthermore, the energy differences between the
band gap and direct band gap (Eg-k) of the WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A structures are 0.157
and 0.225 eV, respectively, from Table S1a, indicating their higher absorption efficiency. Thus, high-absorption
efficiency and low reflectivity for the WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A
in the visible spectrum configurations indicate the PV competence
of these materials, as well.
Figure 7
Comparison of photon energy-dependent (a) real
dielectric function
and (b) imaginary dielectric function and photon wavelength-dependent
(c) absorption co-efficient and (d) reflectivity of WSSe AAA and WSSe
AA′A with the ML and bilayer and cdTe.
Comparison of photon energy-dependent (a) real
dielectric function
and (b) imaginary dielectric function and photon wavelength-dependent
(c) absorption co-efficient and (d) reflectivity of WSSe AAA and WSSe
AA′A with the ML and bilayer and cdTe.
Conclusions
Using the first-principles DFT,
the structural properties of Janus
WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) trilayer homostructures for different
stacking patterns have been analyzed. Electronic and optical properties
are evaluated for the dynamically stable structures to analyze their
appropriateness for fabricating PV devices. Because of having homogeneous
staking layers, our proposed structures have an extremely low lattice
mismatch (∼0.05%). The trilayer WSSe AAA, WSSe AA′A,
and WSeTe AA′A structures are found dynamically stable verified
by phonon dispersion analysis. The WSeTe AA′A structure has
the lowest binding energy and has a direct band gap of 0.221 eV. WSSe
AAA and WSSe AA′A structures have indirect band gaps with suitable
band gap values (1.63 and 1.55 eV, respectively) for absorbing photons
at the visible light region with type-II band alignment, which signifies
the possibility of spatial separation of photogenerated carriers with
significant recombination time. The value of the electron mobility
of the WSSe AAA (WSSe AA′A) structure is significantly high
6.27 × 104 cm2 v–1 s–1 (5.34 × 104 cm2 v–1 s–1), and also the hole mobility
is 5.49 × 104 cm2 v–1 s–1 (7.38 × 104 cm2 v–1 s–1), and each of these
structures has high band offsets values of ∼0.5 eV. The optical
absorption coefficients at visible spectrum ∼3.5 × 105 cm–1 (at ∼380 nm) are higher for
the dynamically stable trilayer homostructures WSSe AAA and WSSe AA′A
than their mono- and bilayer with similar stacking patterns. Thus,
these results provide the basic understanding and guidance for the
appropriateness of Janus WXY (X ≠ Y = S, Se, and Te) trilayer
homostructures in PV devices.
Authors: Yu-Chuan Lin; Chenze Liu; Yiling Yu; Eva Zarkadoula; Mina Yoon; Alexander A Puretzky; Liangbo Liang; Xiangru Kong; Yiyi Gu; Alex Strasser; Harry M Meyer; Matthias Lorenz; Matthew F Chisholm; Ilia N Ivanov; Christopher M Rouleau; Gerd Duscher; Kai Xiao; David B Geohegan Journal: ACS Nano Date: 2020-03-18 Impact factor: 15.881