Solution-Grown Sodium Bismuth Dichalcogenides: Toward Earth-Abundant, Biocompatible Semiconductors

Many technologically relevant semiconductors contain toxic, heavily regulated (Cd, Pb, As), or relatively scarce (Li, In) elements and often require high manufacturing costs. We report a facile, general, low-temperature, and size tunable (4-28 nm) solution phase synthesis of ternary APnE₂ semiconductors based on Earth-abundant and biocompatible elements (A = Na, Pn = Bi, E = S or Se). The observed experimental band gaps (1.20-1.45 eV) fall within the ideal range for solar cells. Computational investigation of the lowest energy superstructures that result from "coloring", caused by mixed cation sites present in their rock salt lattice, agrees with other better-known members of this family of materials. Our synthesis unlocks a new class of low cost and environmentally friendly ternary semiconductors that show properties of interest for applications in energy conversion.