Analysis of intermediate band materials using theoretical methods

Abstract

A new kind of photovoltaic material, Intermediate Band Material (MIB), has been proposed in previous works. This new photovoltaic materials is principally characterized by an intermediate band, isolated from the valence and conduction bands of the host semiconductors and is partially occupied. Therefore, this material can absorb photons with a lower energy than the bandgap energy of the original host semiconductor, and thus increasing significantly the limiting efficiency of conventional solar cells. However, although the operation of this solar cell has been proposed, it is necessary to use some method to be able to propose a material with this property. In this work, a theoretical study of the electronic and optoelectronic properties using quantum mechanics calculations is presented.