Solar cells using 2H-MoS2 and beyond!

Abstract

Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) has been studied intensively in the last 20 years, its chemical structure was reported for the first time by the chemist Linus Pauling, proposing a series of two-dimensional sheets stacked by weak van der Waals interaction. Subsequently, the mineral was used for the first time as a lubricant to prevent wear of mechanical parts, and as a “workhorse” in the catalytic process known as hydrodesulfurization of crude oil and recently in the field of nanoelectronics. This talk will present a comprehensive overview of the exceptional properties of this small-dimensional material, with special emphasis on the electronic structure when interacting with indium tin oxide (ITO) using theoretical and experimental data from ITO RF sputter deposits 2H-MoS2 thin films (~100nm-300nm) In addition, the talk presents data from I-V curves, atomic probe tomography, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and density functional theory calculations. The results indicate that the 〈110〉 orientation is aligned perpendicular to ITO film with main reflections at (002), (100), (101), (201), APT reveals MoS+2, MoS+3 as main evaporated molecular ions and indicates no significant diffusion/segregation of Mo or S species within ITO layer. Density Functional theory calculations indicate that ITO and MoS2 form a Schottky barrier. due to d orbital interactions that create an ohmic contact with the n-type Schottky barrier height (Φn) of − 1.6 eV for 2H and − 1.2 eV for 3R MoS2 and contact resistance of approximately 1cm2 when in contact with ITO transparent and MoS2 semiconductor can produce an efficiency of 2.48% measured in the proposed hybrid organic semiconductor solar cell prototype.