Abstract:
The study of electrical transport and optical properties of
inorganic solids is an attractive field of investigation,
having a direct relevance to the current experimental and
theoretical developments in solar energy conversion and
photoelectrochemical cells. The electronics industry and solar
energy conversion devices demand new semiconducting materials,
The problem of instability of photoelectrodes is
still unsolved. It is expected that the solution will eventually
come from the development of new inorganic materials.
In this investigation it was hoped to synthesise inorganic
complexes and to screen them with the hope of finding
semiconducting materials with the above properties. The diffuse
reflectance and electrical conductivity studies were carried out
for nearly twenty complexes each having a transition metal ion
as part of either the anion or the cation. The diffuse
reflectance spectra were primarily used to evaluate the band gap
of the solid material, and conductivity measurements were used to
assess the semiconducting properties. Electrical property
studies showed that most of the tested materials were
semiconductors. Investigations of the optical properties were
found to be consistent with those of the electrical properties.
