Al-Intercalated Chevrel Phase Mo<sub>6</sub>S<sub>8</sub> as a Janus Material for Energy Generation and Storage

ORAL

Abstract

An approach to designing solar absorber materials based on intercalation-induced metal-to-semiconductor transition has been proposed. Using hybrid density functional calculation, Al-intercalated Chevrel phase Mo6S8 with end product Al4/3Mo6S8 is predicted to be a semiconductor with a 1.18 eV indirect band gap. Compared with GaAs and Si, Al4/3Mo6S8 shows significantly higher optical absorption over the solar spectrum as a result of the parallel bands across the band gap with direct transitions around 1.35 eV, nearly ideal for an absorber material in a solar cell. Chevrel phase Mo6S8 has recently been explored as a cathode material in rechargeable Al-ion batteries. Thus, Al4/3Mo6S8 is a potential dual-function (or Janus) material for both energy generation and storage.

*The authors acknowledge the following funding support: NSF CBET-1510948; NSFC 11774365; DOE DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Presenters

  • Yi-Yang Sun

    • State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Authors

  • Michael Agiorgousis

    • Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  • Yi-Yang Sun

    • State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Damien West

    • Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  • Shengbai Zhang

    • Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    • Physics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
    • Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute