Regulating electronic properties of graphene sheet via n-type doping for solar cells applications
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Regulating electronic properties of graphene sheet via n‑type doping for solar cells applications Palak Malik1 · Geetanjali Kumari1 · Neelankshi1 · Preetika Sharma1 · Sukhbir Singh1 Received: 2 May 2020 / Accepted: 10 July 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Solar energy can be utilized by electronic device known as solar cells which are then used to power various equipment as well as batteries. The conventional semiconductor used in solar cell is silicon and it has a bandgap of 1.4 eV. However, for efficient photovoltaic phenomena along with superior performance of solar cell, we require a novel semiconductor with smaller bandgap ideally up to this range. Hence, in this present work, attempts have been made to regulate the electronic bandgap in graphene sheet to use it for solar cell application. The in-depth analysis of electronic properties considering the band structure, density of states and geometrical stability on the basis of cohesive energy has been examined. Two n-type dopants, Phosphorus and Nitrogen are substituted in graphene sheet and investigations are reckoned in the frame work of density functional theory. The controlled tuning of bandgap is performed by varying dopant concentration at 5.55%, 8.83% and 11.11%. Our findings show that doping induces bandgap in both cases and requirement of smaller bandgap is achieved. For phosphorus doping, bandgap of 0.3 eV for 11.11% and for nitrogen doping, bandgap of 1.5 eV is achieved. Furthermore, the electrical properties are evaluated by calculating conductance for individual dopant with varying percentage. Finally, our outcome shows that the phosphorus-doped graphene is more favourable in comparison to nitrogen doped as it provides bandgap while not reducing conductance to that extent. Thus, this analysis will enhance the scope of doped graphene in solar cells application.
1 Introduction Energy sources can be conventional or non-conventional. As there are many limitations of conventional sources of energy such as finite, exhaustible, pollution causing, etc. On the contrary, the non-conventional sources also called renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, etc., which overcome all such limitations [1, 2]. One of the most common sources is solar energy. Solar energy is used to generate electrical energy by using solar cells [2, 3]. The phenomenon behind this is known as photovoltaics. In a commercial device, a semiconductor material is placed as a solar panel where direct conversion of solar energy to electrical energy takes place. Using the photovoltaic effect, energy from the sun is converted into a flow of electrons. Based on this principle, many different types of solar cells have been developed. Most of the solar cells are made of * Preetika Sharma [email protected] 1
UIET, Panjab University, Sector 25, Chandigarh 160025, India
silicon semiconductor that is used to absorb [4, 5] sunlight and then convert it into electricity. In order to further enrich solar cell’s performance, n
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