CdS
cadmium sulfide · greenockite, hawleyite
Cadmium sulfide is a stable, widely studied semiconductor material primarily utilized in the manufacturing of thin-film solar cells and various optoelectronic components.
About cadmium sulfide
Cadmium sulfide is a quintessential II-VI semiconductor that maintains high thermodynamic stability. Its electronic properties make it a foundational material for light-harvesting applications and optoelectronic devices where precise band structure control is required. The material is exceptionally well-characterized, with a vast number of reported structural phases across multiple databases. This structural versatility allows researchers to tune its performance for specific thin-film technologies, cementing its status as a cornerstone of modern semiconductor science.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for cadmium sulfide, aggregated across 4 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Cross-Source DFT Agreement
How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of CdS. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.
Agreement ScoreA normalized confidence score summarizing how closely independent DFT databases agree. Higher scores mean tighter cross-source agreement.
Hull SpreadDifference between the highest and lowest energy-above-hull values reported by comparable sources. Smaller spread means less thermodynamic disagreement.
Sources ComparedNumber and names of computational sources with comparable entries for this formula.
Space Group ConsensusWhether independent sources predict the same crystal symmetry for the lowest-energy structure.
Synthesis Routes
Literature-extracted synthesis procedures targeting CdS.
Applications
Where cadmium sulfide is used.
Patent Landscape
5 patents reference CdS or close compositional variants.
| Patent | Title | Assignee | Granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7211462 | Process for large-scale production of CdTe/CdS thin film solar cells | — | — |
| 6444043 | Apparatus for depositing CdS and CdTe layers on substrates by means of a CSS process | — | — |
| 9202867 | Nanocrystals containing CdTe core with CdS and ZnS coatings | — | — |
| 6300274 | CdS photocatalyst for hydrogen production, preparation therefor and method for producing hydrogen by use of th | — | — |
| 10934176 | Methods of degrading organic pollutants and preventing or treating microbe using Bi2S3-CdS particles | — | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about cadmium sulfide, answered from cross-validated data.
What is CdS?
Cadmium sulfide is a stable, widely studied semiconductor material primarily utilized in the manufacturing of thin-film solar cells and various optoelectronic components.
What is CdS used for?
What is the band gap of CdS?
Is CdS a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is CdS thermodynamically stable?
How many polymorphs of CdS are known?
How is CdS synthesized?
What elements does CdS contain?
Where does the data for CdS come from?
How It Compares
Within the ii-vi semiconductors class.
Within the family of cadmium-based chalcogenides, CdS serves as a critical wide-gap counterpart to narrower-gap materials like CdTe and CdSe. While CdTe and CdSe are frequently optimized for infrared detection and specific photovoltaic absorption profiles, CdS is typically employed as a window layer due to its favorable transparency and alignment with other absorber materials in heterojunction devices.
Related Compounds
Other II-VI Semiconductors in the database.
Data sources & attribution
- latticegraph — Lattice Graph Materials Intelligence Platform
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