DMREF: SusChEM: Collaborative Research: Rapid Design of Earth Abundant Inorganic Materials for Future PVs

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DMREF: SusChEM: Rapid Design of Earth Abundant Inorganic Materials for Future PVsNon-technical Description: Electricity is on of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. and the worldwide demand for electricity is also on a rapid rise. For many countries, their economic growth is dependent on finding low-cost and readily available supply of electricity. Identification of new earth-abundant semiconductors along with their optoelectronic properties and low-cost processing technology in this project will influence how future thin-film photovoltaics (PV) are fabricated. The successful research outcome of the project will contrbute toward widespread use of PV as an abundant source of electricity for a sustainable energy economy in the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. The integrative nature of the research and education will train and co-mentor graduate and undergraduate students in cross-disciplinary skills that are essential for developing innovative solutions as they join the workplace and contribute to the U.S. leadership in the burgeoning field of energy. Technical Description: This project will develop the fundamental scientific knowledge that will lead to the identification and large-scale use of new semiconducting materials composed of earth-abundant elements for photovoltaics (PV). The central aspect of the project is a close coupling among all three of its research thrusts to: (1) conduct rapid search and rational design of promising earth-abundant materials through computational screening using first principles calculations; (2) synthesize promising materials by solution phase providing exquisite control through chemistry and to measure their material and optoelectronic properties; and (3) fabricate functioning solar cells and develop scientific relationship between the properties estimated from the first principles and device performance contributing toward 'inverse designs' of material for electronic applications. An ongoing feedback among computational estimates and experimentally measured material and electronic properties will allow refinement of the methods in all three research thrusts leading to rapid screening of large number of materials from a vast search space. Project efforts will identify the most promising earth-abundant materials for high efficiency solar cells.