Enhanced Photoresponse of FeS2 Films: The Role of Marcasite-Pyrite Phase Junctions

Longfei Wu; Nelson Y Dzade; Lu Gao; David O Scanlon; Zafer Öztürk; Nathan Hollingsworth; Bert M Weckhuysen; Emiel J M Hensen; Nora H de Leeuw; Jan P Hofmann

doi:10.1002/adma.201602222

Enhanced Photoresponse of FeS₂ Films: The Role of Marcasite-Pyrite Phase Junctions

Adv Mater. 2016 Nov;28(43):9602-9607. doi: 10.1002/adma.201602222. Epub 2016 Sep 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600, MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
² Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 9, 3584, CC, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
³ Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London, WC1H0AJ, UK.
⁴ Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584, CG, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

PMID: 27628579
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201602222

Abstract

The beneficial role of marcasite in iron-sulfide-based photo-electrochemical applications is reported for the first time. A spectacular improvement of the photoresponse observed experimentally for mixed pyrite/marcasite-FeS₂ films can be ascribed to the presence of p/m phase junctions at the interface. Density functional theory calculations show that the band alignment at the phase boundary contributes to enhanced charge separation and transfer across the interface.

Keywords: band alignment; charge separation; marcasite; phase junctions; pyrite.