Tiny Crystals Could Boost Solar Cell Output

Feb 1, 2006 2:52 PM

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists have discovered that a phenomenon called carrier multiplication, in which semiconductor nanocrystals respond to photons by producing multiple electrons, is applicable to a broader array of materials than previously thought. The discovery increases the potential for the use of nanocrystals as solar cell materials to produce higher electrical outputs than current solar cells.

In papers published recently in the journals Nature Physics and Applied Physics Letters, the scientists demonstrate that carrier multiplication is not unique to lead selenide nanocrystals, but also occurs with very high efficiency in nanocrystals of other compositions such as cadmium selenide. In addition, these new results shed light on the mechanism for carrier multiplication, which likely occurs via the instantaneous photoexcitation of multiple electrons. Such a process has never been observed in macroscopic materials, and it explicitly relies on the unique physics of the nanoscale size regime.

According to Richard Schaller, a Los Alamos scientist on the team, "Our research of carrier multiplication in previous years was focused on analyzing the response of lead selenide nanocrystals to very short laser pulses. We discovered that the absorption of a single photon could produce two or even three excited electrons. We knew, somewhat instinctively, that carrier multiplication was probably not confined to lead selenide, but we needed to pursue the question."

Lead Project Scientist Victor Klimov explains, "Carrier multiplication actually relies upon very strong interactions between electrons squeezed within the tiny volume of a nanoscale semiconductor particle. That is why it is the particle size— not its composition— that mostly determines the efficiency of the effect. In nanosize crystals, strong electron-electron interactions make a high-energy electron unstable. This electron only exists in its so-called 'virtual state' for an instant before rapidly transforming into a more stable state comprising two or more electrons."

The Los Alamos findings point toward practical photovoltaic technologies that may use such traditional solar cell materials as cadmium telluride, which is similar to cadmium selenide. Other potential opportunities include the use of carrier multiplication in solar-fuel technologies and the production of hydrogen by photocatalytic water splitting.

In addition to Klimov and Schaller, the Los Alamos team includes Melissa Petruska. Research on carrier multiplication at Los Alamos is funded by the DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences and by Los Alamos' Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program.

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