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.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for CdS, ranked by energy above hull.
| Space GroupSymmetry classification of the crystal arrangement. The number is the international space-group index. | Crystal SystemBroad lattice family, such as cubic, tetragonal, monoclinic, or triclinic, derived from unit-cell symmetry. | Band Gap (eV)Electronic gap calculated for this specific reported structure, measured in electronvolts. | E above hull (eV/atom)Thermodynamic distance from the convex hull for this structure, normalized per atom. Lower is generally more stable. | E/atom (eV)Computed total energy normalized per atom. Use energy above hull, not this value alone, when comparing stability. | Density (g/cm³)Mass per relaxed crystal volume, reported in grams per cubic centimeter. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P63mc (No. 186) | hexagonal | 1.13 | 0.0000 | -14.846 | 4.70 |
| F-43m (No. 216) | cubic | 1.05 | 0.0027 | -14.843 | 4.71 |
| Fm-3m (No. 225) | cubic | 0.28 | 0.1334 | -14.713 | 5.75 |
| Pmmn (No. 59) | orthorhombic | 0.28 | 0.1342 | -14.712 | 5.73 |
| P-6m2 (No. 187) | hexagonal | 1.49 | 0.2517 | -14.594 | 2.63 |
| P3m1 (No. 156) | trigonal | 1.52 | 0.2523 | -14.594 | 2.58 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 1.21 |
| P1 (No. 1) | Triclinic | — | — | — | 3.91 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 2.40 |
| No. 0 | unknown | — | — | — | 2.41 |
| Cmcm (No. 63) | Orthorhombic | — | — | — | 5.32 |
| Pmmn (No. 59) | Orthorhombic | — | — | — | 5.88 |
Synthesis Routes
Literature-extracted synthesis procedures targeting CdS.
Applications
Where cadmium sulfide is used.
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?
What is the crystal structure of CdS?
What is the density of CdS?
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
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
- cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).
- mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
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