Enhanced Photoresponse of FeS<sub>2</sub> Films: The Role of Marcasite-Pyrite Phase Junctions.

Wu, Longfei; Dzade, Nelson Y; Gao, Lu; Scanlon, David O; Öztürk, Zafer; Hollingsworth, Nathan; Weckhuysen, Bert M; Hensen, Emiel J M et al. · Adv Mater · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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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-FeS<sub>2</sub> 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.