Bandgap Engineering Of Multiferroic Bismuth ferrite For Photovoltaic Application

Abstract

Solar power has evidently become the trend in renewable energy. So, enhancement of the efficiency of solar cell is very necessary in this regard. Solar cell performance can be improved by applying multiferroic thin film. Multiferroic BiFeO3. (BFO) is a potential candidate for photovoltaic (PV) application. However, the efficiency of BFO based PV solar cells is reportedly still too low (less than 2%) to be used for practical applications. In this context, BFO nanoparticles were precisely synthesized using the sol-gel method at 7000 C. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy was carried out to study grain morphology of synthesized nanoparticles. The average particle size estimated from the SEM micrographs was found to be greater than the crystallite size measured from XRD analysis. An UV-Vis NIR Spectrophotometer was used to measure diffuse reflectance and a PL Spectrophotometer was used to analyze the optical properties. Bandgap Eg was calculated from both of these Spectrometries. The value of bandgap Eg from UV and PL Spectrometry were denoted to be 1.92 eV and 2.06 eV respectively.