Solar material can ‘self-heal’ imperfections, new research shows

Phys.org  January 27, 2021 Broken bonds introduced at extended defects in covalently bonded semiconductors generally introduce deep electronic states within the gap, negatively impacting performance for applications in electronics, photochemistry, and optoelectronics. Researchers in the UK found that Sb2Se3 and Sb2S3, which show exceptional promise for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical applications, exhibit a remarkable ability to self‐heal broken bonds through structural reconstructions, thereby eliminating the associated deep electronic states. These materials appear intrinsically resilient to the formation of dangling bonds at extended defects, which should be advantageous for a wide range of applications. They could reduce costs and improve scalability of […]