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.com
Volume 7
Innovative Energy & Research
ISSN: 2576-1463
Advanced Energy Materials 2018
August 13-14, 2018
August 13-14, 2018 | Dublin, Ireland
20
th
International Conference on
Advanced Energy Materials and Research
Innov Ener Res 2018, Volume 7
DOI: 10.4172/2576-1463-C1-003
Photoferroic (ZnSnO
3
) for photovoltaic applications
Manikandan Marimuthu
1
and
Mukilraj Thayanithi
2
1
Anna University, India
2
University of Madras, India
I
n the recent decades, the field of renewable clean energy i.e., solar energy has emerged as an alternative to the traditional
power sources. Solar energy is one of the most important resources which have been harvested through Photovoltaic (PV)
effect. Photovoltaic effect typically involves two basic processes: generation of electron-hole pairs as and separation of electrons
and holes. In semiconductor based solar cell, the generation and separation of electrons and holes usually takes place at a
material interface and the maximum open-circuit voltage is equal to the semiconductor band gap. Since there is observation of
bulk photovoltaic effect in the ferroelectric materials, the open-circuit voltages exceeds the band gap due to the separation of
electron-hole pairs by the built-in potential induced by intrinsic polarization. The bulk photovoltaic effect has been reported
in several ferroelectric perovskite oxides, such as Pb(Zr,Ti)O
3
, BaTiO
3
and LiNbO
3
family. These oxides have relatively large
internal electric fields that could be exploited in photovoltaic applications. Hence, harvesting solar energy from ferroelectrics
is still a new field of research and which grew considerable attention in the recent years. Therefore, the LiNbO
3
type ZnSnO
3
is prepared by hydrothermal method. The prepared ZnSnO
3
is explored as photoanode in the solar device and the device
performance is tested using I-V characteristics. The photo-physical properties are analyzed and explained using appropriate
mechanisms. X-ray diffraction confirms the R3C symmetry of polar ZnSnO
3
phase. Scanning electron micrograph shows an
agglomeration of square shaped particles. Ferroelectric behaviour is confirmed by P-E loop tracer. Double semicircle, one
in the low frequency and other in the relatively high frequency explains the charge transport characteristics between the
interfaces of the fabricated device. An open circuit voltage of 0.64 V, a short circuit current density of 1.39 mA/cm
2
and a
conversion efficiency of 0.5% are obtained for the constructed device. These results show the potential value of ferroelectric
ZnSnO
3
for use in solar cells, although the efficiency cannot yet compete with semiconductor materials. An effort is hence put
forth for the deep understanding on photovoltaic mechanisms in ferroelectric materials.
mani7289@gmail.com