Publication date: 5th November 2025
BaNbO2N is an oxynitride with a band gap of 1.7 eV, able to absorb wavelengths below 730 nm, resulting in a theoretical efficiency of 29 %. Current research on it uses solid-state approaches with NH3 process gas for the high temperature nitridation of oxidic precursors. Most of these oxides, however, do not possess the right ratio between barium and niobium, leading to additional phases, and decreased performance. Presently, the main focus of BaNbO2N is on photocatalytic water splitting, which turns water and light into hydrogen and oxygen. The goal of this work is to use BaNbO2N in ceramic solar cells for photovoltaic applications.
To achieve this, thin films are fabricated using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), which allows for a high flexibility in deposited materials and its stochiometric transfer onto a substrate. As the target, an oxidic precursor is chosen, and N2 process gas is used to incorporate the nitrogen into the thin film. Nitrogen has the advantage of being less toxic and corrosive than ammonia, and is therefore more desirable for experiments. Conversely, it also poses significant challenges for the nitridation, due to the inert nature of it. Due to these difficulties, only the oxidic perovskite precursor of BaNbO3 could be fabricated until now, nonetheless providing notable scientific results. The fabricated thin films are phase clean, and form in the desired perovskite crystal structure. XRD analysis alone, however, is insufficient in distinguishing between the deposited oxide and desired oxynitride, due to the close positioning of their diffraction peaks. The diffraction pattern of the deposited material even shows a closer match to the oxynitride. Optical measurements, however, show no semiconducting behavior, proving the formation of the oxide. The desired effect of nitrogen incorporation with N2 process gas is therefore not possible under the present deposition conditions, highlighting the challenges associated with in-situ formation of oxynitrides.
The results show the possibility of PLD fabrication of phase clean thin films of the perovskite BaNbO3, as an oxidic precursor to the semiconductor BaNbO2N. We propose, that a nitridation into the desired oxynitride is possible, using further in- and ex-situ processes.
The scope of this project is funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung (Carl-Zeiss-Foundation) as part of the project KeraSolar.
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