Forcing mismatched elements together could yield better solar cells

13 Sep 2010

1

In what could be a step toward higher efficiency solar cells, an international team including University of Michigan professors has invalidated the most commonly used model to explain the behavior of a unique class of materials called highly mismatched alloys.

University of Michigan professors from the departments of materials science and engineering, and physics contributed to this research.

Highly mismatched alloys, which are still in the experimental stages of development, are combinations of elements that won't naturally mix together using conventional crystal growth techniques.

Professor Rachel Goldman compares them to some extent to homogenised milk, in which the high-fat cream and low-fat milk that would naturally separate are forced to mix together at high pressure.

New mixing methods such as "molecular beam epitaxy" are allowing researchers to combine disparate elements. The results, Goldman says, are more dramatic than smooth milk.

"Highly mismatched alloys have very unusual properties," said Goldman, a professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics. "You can add just a sprinkle of one element and drastically change the electrical and optical properties of the alloy."

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