Miloslav Frumar: In the footsteps of the chalcogenide semiconductors

The year 2021 is the year of the 85th anniversary of the birth of Professor Miloslav Frumar the enthusiastic chemist who dedicated his whole professional life to the study of amorphous and glassy chalcogenides which are used in numerous applications like copying machines, laser printers, DVDs or memories.

Photoluminescence of Ca4Ga2S7:Eu2+ in wide excitation intensity and temperature range

Photoluminescence properties of [Formula: see text] chalcogenide semiconductors have been studied under the impulse laser excitation in the range of 10–105 W/cm2 at room temperature. This study has shown that as a result of excitation, photoluminescence of [Formula: see text] is characterized by the emission in the interval of 450–575 nm with significant domination in the spectra line at 660 nm. Photoluminescence of [Formula: see text] quenches at wavelengths of 560 nm and 660 nm with constant time frames 258 ns and 326 ns, respectively. Moreover, the temperature measurements of photoluminescence were performed on the samples in the temperature range of 10–300 K.

Structural and physical properties of 99 complex bulk chalcogenides crystals using first-principles calculations

Chalcogenide semiconductors and glasses have many applications in the civil and military fields, especially in relation to their electronic, optical and mechanical properties for energy conversion and in enviormental materials. However, they are much less systemically studied and their fundamental physical properties for a large class chalcogenide semiconductors are rather scattered and incomplete. Here, we present a detailed study using well defined first-principles calculations on the electronic structure, interatomic bonding, optical, and mechanical properties for 99 bulk chalcogenides including thirteen of these crytals which have never been calculated. Due to their unique composition and structures, these 99 bulk chalcogenides are divided into two main groups. The first group contains 54 quaternary crystals with the structure composition (A2BCQ4) (A = Ag, Cu; B = Zn, Cd, Hg, Mg, Sr, Ba; C = Si, Ge, Sn; Q = S, Se, Te), while the second group contains scattered ternary and quaternary chalcogenide crystals with a more diverse composition (AxByCzQn) (A = Ag, Cu, Ba, Cs, Li, Tl, K, Lu, Sr; B = Zn, Cd, Hg, Al, Ga, In, P, As, La, Lu, Pb, Cu, Ag; C = Si, Ge, Sn, As, Sb, Bi, Zr, Hf, Ga, In; Q = S, Se, Te; $$\hbox {x} = 1$$ x = 1 , 2, 3; $$\hbox {y} = 0$$ y = 0 , 1, 2, 5; $$\hbox {z} = 0$$ z = 0 , 1, 2 and $$\hbox {n} = 3$$ n = 3 , 4, 5, 6, 9). Moreover, the total bond order density (TBOD) is used as a single quantum mechanical metric to characterize the internal cohesion of these crystals enabling us to correlate them with the calculated properties, especially their mechanical properties. This work provides a very large database for bulk chalcogenides crucial for the future theoretical and experimental studies, opening opportunities for study the properties and potential application of a wide variety of chalcogenides.

Simultaneous Conduction and Valence Band Regulation of Indium-Based Quantum Dots for Efficient H2 Photogeneration

Indium-based chalcogenide semiconductors have been served as the promising candidates for solar H2 evolution reaction, however, the related studies are still in its infancy and the enhancement of efficiency remains a grand challenge. Here, we report that the photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of quantized indium chalcogenide semiconductors could be dramatically aroused by the co-decoration of transition metal Zn and Cu. Different from the traditional metal ion doping strategies which only focus on narrowing bandgap for robust visible light harvesting, the conduction and valence band are coordinately regulated to realize the bandgap narrowing and the raising of thermodynamic driving force for proton reduction, simultaneously. Therefore, the as-prepared noble metal-free Cu0.4-ZnIn2S4 quantum dots (QDs) exhibits extraordinary activity for photocatalytic H2 evolution. Under optimal conditions, the Cu0.4-ZnIn2S4 QDs could produce H2 with the rate of 144.4 μmol h−1 mg−1, 480-fold and 6-fold higher than that of pristine In2S3 QDs and Cu-doped In2S3 QDs counterparts respectively, which is even comparable with the state-of-the-art cadmium chalcogenides QDs.

Enhanced thermoelectric performance of InTe through Pb doping

Chalcogenide semiconductors continue to be of prime interest for designing novel efficient materials for energy-conversion applications. Among them, the narrow-band-gap p-type semiconductor InTe exhibits high thermoelectric performance that mostly stems...

Synthesis and physical properties of single-crystalline InTe: Towards high thermoelectric performance

Chalcogenide semiconductors and semimetals continue to be of prime interest for thermoelectric applications in power generation. As another representative of this broad class of materials, tetragonal InTe has recently emerged...

Дисперсия плазменных колебаний в аморфных халькогенидных полупроводниках

Thin films of amorphous chalcogenide semiconductors on a silicon crystal are studied by the method of plasma vibration dispersion and the asymmetry of the number of electrons in the zone of formation of the total external reflection of X-rays and the excitation of plasmons is calculated. Loop-like dispersion curves were observed and the average plasmon energies and the associated internal mechanical stresses and polarization of the studied films were determined. The absence of internal mechanical stresses and polarization in an amorphous semiconductor film of molybdenum sulfide is found.