Low temperature synthesis of iron pyrite nanorods for photovoltaic applications

Abstract

Iron pyrite is gaining reputation amongst the various alternatives for silicon as the photovoltaic material in solar cells due to its low cost, strong absorption and relatively high abundance of its constitutional elements. The synthesis of iron pyrite nanoparticles by existing hydrothermal methods with precise control over size, shape and stoichiometry is a difficult task due to the difficulty in controlling the parameters at a higher temperature. Here, we report a novel synthesis method for obtaining iron pyrite nanorods through a low temperature process in a stirred container which is scalable for the large scale industrial production. The nanorods synthesized by the new method consisted of single phase pyrite, possessing an optical band gap of about 1.13 eV. The overall mechanism of nanorod formation is explained by the La Mer model as well as the oriented attachment model. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.