Novel magnetic topological materials pave the way for studying the interplay between band topology and magnetism. However, an intrinsically ferromagnetic topological material with only topological bands at the charge neutrality energy has so far remained elusive. Using rational design, we synthesized MnBi8Te13, a natural heterostructure with [MnBi2Te4] and [Bi2Te3] layers. Thermodynamic, transport, and neutron diffraction measurements show that despite the adjacent [MnBi2Te4] being 44.1 Å apart, MnBi8Te13 manifests long-range ferromagnetism below 10.5 K with strong coupling between magnetism and charge carriers. First-principles calculations and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements reveal it is an axion insulator with sizable surface hybridization gaps. Our calculations further demonstrate the hybridization gap persists in the two-dimensional limit with a nontrivial Chern number. Therefore, as an intrinsic ferromagnetic axion insulator with clean low-energy band structures, MnBi8Te13 serves as an ideal system to investigate rich emergent phenomena, including the quantized anomalous Hall effect and quantized magnetoelectric effect.
We report the synthesis and photovoltaic properties of a ternary metal sulfide alloyed semiconductor PbxCd1−xS prepared by the two‐stage sequential ionic layer adsorption reaction. The synthesized PbxCd1−xS nanoparticles (NPs) retain the hexagonal structure of the CdS host with Pb substituting a fraction of the Cd atom (x = 0‐0.17). Band structures of PbxCd1−xS with various Pb contents x were calculated using the complementary density functional theory (DFT) method. Optical, quantum efficiency, cyclic voltammetry measurements, and band structure calculation revealed that the band gap of PbxCd1−xS decreased with increasing x, resulting in an increased optical absorption band from 500 to 720 nm (1.73‐2.44 eV) for x = 0 to 0.17. Solid‐state PbxCd1−xS semiconductor nanoparticle‐sensitized solar cells (NSSCs) were fabricated from the synthesized NPs using spiro‐OMeTAD as the hole‐transporting material. The best Pb0.05Cd0.95S cell yielded a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.67%, a Voc of 0.70 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 62.8% under 1 sun. The PCE increased to 5.93% under a reduced light intensity of 0.1 sun and further increased to 8.48% under 0.01 sun. The external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectrum covers the spectral range of 300 to 730 nm with a maximal EQE of 82% at λ = 580 nm. The PCE over 8% can be categorized into a high‐efficiency NSSCs. In addition, the Voc of 0.70 V is a relatively high Voc among all NSSCs. The high PCE and Voc suggest that PbxCd1−xS has potential to be an efficient solar absorber.
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