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A study led by the University of Oxford has identified a novel semiconductor that overcomes a key limitation of light-harvesting materials. The results, published today (Oct. 28) in Nature, could enable more efficient solar panels with higher outputs.

Solar energy currently faces a critical limitation: Materials that absorb light more strongly also tend to be less efficient at turning captured light into electricity.

Solar cells rely on materials called semiconductors, which absorb sunlight and use its energy to free tiny negatively charged particles called electrons, leaving behind positively charged gaps known as holes. To produce electricity, these charges must be collected before an electron and a hole meet and cancel each other out, wasting the energy they carry.

This creates a fundamental challenge. Semiconductors that absorb light more strongly also tend to lose their charges more quickly. This trade-off limits how efficiently solar cells can turn sunlight into electricity.

In the new study, the researchers discovered that bismuth sulfide appears to sidestep this trade-off. This is because it has an unusual arrangement of energy levels that allows it to absorb light strongly while losing its electrical charges more slowly, pointing to a new way to design more efficient solar cells.

"One of the longstanding challenges in developing efficient solar-energy materials is that the properties which make a semiconductor very good at absorbing sunlight also tend to make the resulting electrical charges disappear quickly," said corresponding author professor Laura Herz (Department of Physics, University of Oxford).

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