Antimony selenosulfide, Sb2(S,Se)3, has attracted attention over the last few years as a light-harvesting material for photovoltaic technology owing to its phase stability, earth abundancy and low toxicity. However, the lack of a suitable material processing approach to obtain Sb2(S,Se)3 films with optimal optoelectronic properties and morphology severely hampers prospects for efficiency improvement. Here we demonstrate a hydrothermal approach to deposit high-quality Sb2(S,Se)3 films. By varying the Se/S ratio and the temperature of the post-deposition annealing, we improve the film morphology, increase the grain size and reduce the number of defects. In particular, we find that increasing the Se/S ratio leads to a favourable orientation of the (Sb4S(e)6)n ribbons (S(e) represents S or Se). By optmizing the hydrothermal deposition parameters and subsequent annealing, we report a Sb2(S,Se)3 cell with a certified 10.0% efficiency. This result highlights the potential of Sb2(S,Se)3 as an emerging photovoltaic material. Antimony chalcogenides are emerging photovoltaic materials, yet difficulties in fabricating high-quality films limit device performance. We show that hydrothermal synthesis affords good morphology and reduced defects in antimony selenosulfide films, enabling solar cells with an efficiency of 10%.

Hydrothermal deposition of antimony selenosulfide thin films enables solar cells with 10% efficiency

Review of Recent Progress in Antimony Chalcogenide‐Based Solar Cells: Materials and Devices

Quasiepitaxy Strategy for Efficient Full-Inorganic Sb 2 S 3 Solar Cells

Recently, antimony chalcogenide solar cells including Sb2S3, Sb2Se3, and Sb2(S,Se)3 have obtained considerable progress, with efficiency up to 7.5%, 9.2%, and 7.82%, respectively, and the efficienc...

Open-Circuit Voltage Loss of Antimony Chalcogenide Solar Cells: Status, Origin, and Possible Solutions

Manipulating the Electrical Properties of Sb2(S,Se)3 Film for High-Efficiency Solar Cell

Sb2S3 is a kind of new light-absorbing material possessing high stability in ambient environment, high absorption coefficient in the visible range, and abundant elemental storage. To improve the power conversion efficiency of Sb2S3-based solar cells, here we control the defect in Sb2S3 absorber films. It is found that the increase of sulfur vacancy is able to upgrade photovoltaic properties. With the increase in sulfur vacancy, the carrier concentrations are increased. This n-type doping gives rise to an upshift of the Fermi level of Sb2S3 so that the charge transport from Sb2S3 to the electron selection material becomes dynamically favorable. The introduction of ZnCl2 in film fabrication is also found to regulate the film growth for enhanced crystallinity. Finally, the photovoltaic parameters, short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and the fill factor of the device based on the Sb2S3 film are all considerably enhanced, boosting the final power conversion efficiency from 5.15 to 6.35%. This ...

n-Type Doping of Sb2S3 Light-Harvesting Films Enabling High-Efficiency Planar Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Alkali Metals Doping for High-Performance Planar Heterojunction Sb2S3 Solar Cells

Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is a kind of emerging light-harvesting material with excellent stability and abundant elemental storage. Due to the quasi-one-dimensional symmetry, theoretical investigations have pointed out that there exist complicated defect properties. However, there is no experimental verification on the defect property. Here, we conduct optical deep-level transient spectroscopy to investigate defect properties in Sb2S3 and show that there are maximum three kinds of deep-level defects observed, depending on the composition of Sb2S3. We also find that the Sb-interstitial (Sbi) defect does not show critical influence on the carrier lifetime, indicating the high tolerance of the one-dimensional crystal structure where the space of (Sb4S6)n ribbons is able to accommodate impurities to certain extent. This study provides basic understanding on the defect properties of quasi-one-dimensional materials and a guidance for the efficiency improvement of Sb2S3 solar cells. Antimony trisulfide emerges as a suitable candidate for light-harvesting due to its good stability and abundance, yet the defect properties are not well-understood. Here, by means of deep-level transient spectroscopy, Lian et al. find that there are three kinds of deep-level defects depending on the chemical composition.

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Chenhui Jiang

Papers

Hydrothermal deposition of antimony selenosulfide thin films enables solar cells with 10% efficiency

Manipulating the Electrical Properties of Sb2(S,Se)3 Film for High-Efficiency Solar Cell

n-Type Doping of Sb2S3 Light-Harvesting Films Enabling High-Efficiency Planar Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Alkali Metals Doping for High-Performance Planar Heterojunction Sb2S3 Solar Cells

Revealing composition and structure dependent deep-level defect in antimony trisulfide photovoltaics.