Volume 9, Issue 4 2401231
Research Article

A Relationship Between Semiconducting Thin Film's Electronic Structure Heterogeneity and Defect Tolerance

Katarína Gmucová

Corresponding Author

Katarína Gmucová

Institute of Physics SAS, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 11 Slovak Republic

E-mail: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
Vojtech Nádaždy

Vojtech Nádaždy

Institute of Physics SAS, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava, 845 11 Slovak Republic

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 10 December 2024

Abstract

Analyzing the defect states presence in semiconductors and understanding their impact on charge transport is essential to the solar cells' functionality. In recent years, there has been a focus on the concept of “defect tolerance” observed in perovskite solar cells. The energy-resolved electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (ER-EIS) is crucial for measuring the density distribution of defect states in the energy scale from valence to conductance band (or from HOMO to LUMO) and their spatial localization on a thin film. In this study, the aim is to better understand the concept of “defect-tolerant materials” by comparing the surface and bulk densities of defect states obtained from ER-EIS with the loss tangent at the frequency where the redox reactions determine the real part of the impedance. This comparison shows that the heterogeneity of the electronic structure across the thin film manifested as a higher surface density of states significantly impacts the failure of “defect tolerance” properties. The proposed procedure, being fast and efficient, has potential in the search for new materials and effective technological procedures for the conversion of solar energy into electricity.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.