2026-08-13 ミネソタ大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://cse.umn.edu/college/news/minnesota-iron-ore-could-be-key-sustainable-and-lower-cost-semiconductor
- https://journals.aps.org/prapplied/abstract/10.1103/6twd-lvvg
半導体品質の黄鉄鉱FeS2鉄鉱石から Semiconductor-quality pyrite FeS2 from iron ore
Yeon Lee, Jennifer T. Mitchell, Caitlyn Komar, Matt Mlinar, Jestos Taguta, George Hudak, and Chris Leighton
Physical Review Applied Published 13 August, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6twd-lvvg
Abstract
Pyrite FeS2 is an approximately 1-eV-band-gap semiconductor composed of exceptionally earth-abundant, low-cost, and nontoxic elements, with applications in numerous electronic and energy technologies. Facile and scalable synthesis of FeS2 from natural resources is thus highly desirable but must generate high-purity, semiconductor-quality material to access the widest range of applications. Here, we demonstrate that various forms of commercial iron ore, most notably taconite-based ore, can be used to synthesize semiconductor-quality FeS2 via remarkably simple methods, despite very high initial impurity content. These ores can be reduced to Fe, sulfidized to FeS2, then used in vapor-phase crystal growth to synthesize surprisingly high-quality FeS2 with no additional purification. This is found to be possible due to two synergistic effects: very few elements efficiently dope FeS2, and the sulfidation and crystal growth steps introduce significant unexpected purification, which we track via detailed trace element analyses and rationalize via thermodynamic parameters. The result is pyrite single crystals with room-temperature Hall electron densities down to a remarkable 1016 cm−3 with corresponding mobilities exceeding 100 cm2 V−1 s−1, surprisingly close to crystals grown from high-purity reagents. We thus demonstrate facile synthesis of semiconductor-quality FeS2 from commercial iron ores, potentially unlocking a new renewable-energy revenue stream for an abundant natural resource.
