Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are present in many solar cell architectures. Research aims to improve these TCOs and avoid the use of Indium, scarce element present in ITO.
As well, emerging oxide materials are developed for the role of photon absorber in solar cells. Inorganic photovoltaic technologies are mainly based on CdTe, amorphous Si and CuInxGa1-xSe2 (CIGS). A recent major breakthrough was demonstrated with perovskite halides, with conversion efficiencies higher than 20% using a small surface and not stabilized. Another path is the use of metal oxides based on abundant elements, generally stable and non-toxic.
We use pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and sputtering to study novel oxide absorbers for solar cells. The oxides studied must have a bandgap low enough to be compatible with the solar spectrum. Examples of oxides investigated are LaVO3, Cu2O, KBiFe2O5, h-TbMnO3 and Bi2FeCrO6. For the latter, ferroelectricity can play an important role in the photovoltaic properties.

[1] A Comparative Study on the Impact of Preparation Technique on the Minority Carrier Lifetime of Cu2O Absorber, C. Venugopalan Kartha, Y.-T. Huang, T. Dimopoulos, S. Edinger, D. Muller, S. Roques, J. Bartringer, A. Slaoui, R. L. Z. Hoye, T. Fix, Journal of Materials Science 59, 7207-7217 (2024)

[2] Preparation of β-CuGaO2 thin films by ion-exchange of β-NaGaO2 film fabricated by a solgel method, T. Fix, J. L. Rehspringer, S. Roques, A. Slaoui, emergent mater. 6, 167-174 (2023)

[3] Insights into Cu2O Thin Film Absorber via Pulsed Laser Deposition, C. Venugopalan Kartha, J. L. Rehspringer, D. Muller, S. Roques, J. Bartringer, G. Ferblantier, A. Slaoui, T. Fix, Ceramics International 48, 15274-15281 (2022)

[4] The Role of Dimensionality on the Optoelectronic Properties of Oxide and Halide Perovskites, and their Halide Derivatives, R. Hoye*, J. Hidalgo, R. Jagt, J.-P. Correa-Baena, T. Fix*, J. MacManus-Driscoll*, Advanced Energy Materials, 2100499, pages 1-59 (2021)

[5] Investigation of KBiFe2O5 as a Photovoltaic Absorber, T. Fix, G. Schmerber, H. Wang, J.-L. Rehspringer, C. Leuvrey, S. Roques, M. Lenertz, D. Muller, H. Wang, A. Slaoui, ACS Appl. Energy Mater 2 (11), 8039-8044 (2019)

[6] Band-gap tuning in ferroelectric Bi2FeCrO6 double perovskite thin films, A. Quattropani, D. Stoeffler, T. Fix, G. Schmerber, M. Lenertz, G. Versini, J. L. Rehspringer, A. Slaoui, A. Dinia and S. Colis, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 122, 1070 (2018)

[7] Insights on hexagonal TbMnO3 for optoelectronic applications: From powders to thin films, T. Fix, G. Schmerber, J.-L. Rehspringer, M. Rastei, S. Roques, J. Bartringer, A. Slaoui, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 883, 160922 (2021)