Driving electric field effects on the space charge limited photocurrent of In₆S₇

Abstract

A new type of photovoltaic materials, which are designed on the base of In6S7 single crystals using silver and gold metals to construct Ag/In6S7/Au point contacted photocells, are reported and discussed. The influence of the driving electric field on the performance of the device was tested. The current density-electric field dependence curve reflected a space charge limited photocurrent effect being dominant in the field region of 1.0-4.3 V/cm. In addition, the In6S7 photocell short circuit and loaded current dependencies on the excitation intensity were measured. The short circuit current was observed to exhibit exponential trap distribution effect and supralinear recombination at low and high illumination intensities, respectively. The device displays a current density of 0.5 mA/cm(2) for excitation intensity of 76 klux. When loaded, it displayed a stable power dissipation curve. Such behavior reflects the novelty of these types of cells for future application.