Systematical, experimental investigations on LiMgZ (Z= P, As, Sb) wide band gap semiconductors

TL;DR

This study provides experimental insights into the structural and electronic properties of LiMgZ (Z= P, As, Sb) wide band gap semiconductors, highlighting their potential for optoelectronic and battery applications.

Contribution

It presents a comprehensive experimental analysis of LiMgZ compounds, including synthesis, structural characterization, and electronic property evaluation, which was previously lacking.

Findings

All compounds are semiconductors with direct band gaps from 1.0 to 2.3 eV.

Samples are homogeneous, single-phase, with cubic MgAgAs structure.

Li ion mobility increases with temperature, evidenced by NMR spectra.

Abstract

This work reports on the experimental investigation of the wide band gap compounds LiMgZ (Z = P, As, Sb), which are promising candidates for opto-electronics and anode materials for Lithium batteries. The compounds crystallize in the cubic (C1_b) MgAgAs structure (space group F-43m). The polycrystalline samples were synthesized by solid state reaction methods. X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements show a homogeneous, single-phased samples. The electronic properties were studied using the direct current (DC) method. Additionally UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded in order to investigate the band gap nature. The measurements show that all compounds exhibit semiconducting behavior with direct band gaps of 1.0 eV to 2.3 eV depending on the Z element. A decrease of the peak widths in the static 7Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra with increasing temperature was observed, which can directly be related to an increase of Li ion mobility.