Present investigation will focus of solution based synthesis of iron-pyrite (FeS2 ), and iron thio-silicate (Fe2SiS4 ), and investigate their structural, compositional, and electronic properties for assessing their potential for thin-film photovoltaic application. Both the compounds have suitable band-gap of 0.95 and 1.54 eV, respectively, high photo-absorption (a > 10-5 cm-1 for hn > 1.4 eV), as well as abundant availability of constituent elements, viz. iron, sulfur, and silicon which are also benign towards the environment compared to cadmium, selenium etc. that are being used in some of the relatively established thin-film PV materials.

The facilities established in the PI's laboratory for this project would be Glove-box, a SILAR and Spin Coating instrument.