Conversion of Sunlight Into Electricity Based on New Colored Triphosphates: Elaboration and Characterization

Abstract

Our study focused on triphosphates AlMP₃O₁₀ using three series by substituting metal (M) with manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni). We elaborated these new materials by reaction in the gel process with egg white at 1000 °C for 24 h conditions. The solid solutions exhibit bright coloration due to the pyramidal crystal field around the M²⁺ chromophore. The original coloration found is the yellow nickel-doped compounds and the bright cyan cobalt-doped compounds or the azure manganese-doped compounds. Optical properties of thin films were investigated and characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy using the transmittance T(λ) and the absorbance A(λ) influential factors. As known, the values of the optical gap energy specify insulating, conductor or semi-conductor materials; therefore, our results showed that we obtain only semiconductor material based on triphosphates according their optical gap energy. Moreover, the Urbach energy (band tail width) found has significant values of these materials. The potential application could be achieved by using new solar cells based on studied materials in which they absorbed the light’s energy to excite the electrons and thus generate an electric current.