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The Renaissance of Iron Pyrite
Photovoltaics: Progress, Challenges,
and Perspectives
Alec Kirkeminde, Maogang Gong and Shenqiang Ren
Abstract Pyrite has long been proposed as a green solar cell material. Even with
its promising properties, studies on pyrite have lagged behind many other semi-
conducting materials. Unanswered questions about the affects of defects and how
to grow pure crystalline material still exist. With the rise of nanochemistry and
more powerful computational methods, pyrite is seeing an explosion of new
studies. This chapter first presents pyrite and its green promise as a material,
followed by the materials characteristics. It then moves into synthesis of pyrite,
starting with old methods and then transitioning into different methods of nano-
crystal creation. Finally, photo-devices created out of pyrite materials are dis-
cussed. The chapter then wraps up with a summary and what still needs to be done
for pyrite to achieve its golden status.
1 Introduction
1.1 Pyrite's Green Energy Aspects
The need for new renewable resources is growing every year. Solar cells have been
proposed as an alternative means to help generate energy for the world's contin-
uously growing needs [ 1 , 2 ]. Many different semiconductor systems have been
studied for solar cell application (CdS, CdTe, CuS 2, CuInSe 2 ), but the most well-
developed material is silicon. Crystalline silicon (C-Si) devices have been
extensively optimized, but still suffer from the high costs of creating the crystal-
lized material. C-Si also requires high material consumption due to its poor
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