Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) has excellent directional optical and electronic behaviors due to its quasi‐1D nanoribbons structure. The photovoltaic performance of Sb2Se3solar cells largely depends on the orientation of the nanoribbons. It is desired to grow these Sb2Se3ribbons normal to the substrate to enhance photoexcited carrier transport. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the vertical growth of Sb2Se3nanoribbons to achieve high‐efficiency solar cells. Since antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) and Sb2Se3are from the same space group (Pbnm) and have the same crystal structure, herein an ultrathin layer (≈20 nm) of Sb2S3has been used to assist the vertical growth of Sb2Se3nanoribbons to improve the overall efficiency of Sb2Se3solar cell. The Sb2S3thin layer deposited by the hydrothermal process helps the Sb2Se3ribbons grow normal to the substrate and increases the efficiency from 5.65% to 7.44% through the improvement of all solar cell parameters. This work is expected to open a new direction to tailor the Sb2Se3grain growth and further develop the Sb2Se3solar cell in the future.
Herein, antimony sulfoselenide (Sb2(S, Se)3) thin‐film solar cells are fabricated by a hydrothermal method followed by a post‐deposition annealing process at different temperatures and the impact of the annealing temperature on the morphological, structural, optoelectronic, and defect properties of the hydrothermally grown Sb2(S, Se)3films is investigated. It is found that a proper annealing temperature leads to high‐quality Sb2(S, Se)3films with large crystal grains, high crystallinity, preferred crystal orientation, smooth and uniform morphology, and reduced defect density. These results show that suppressing deep‐level defects is crucial to enhance solar cell performance. After optimizing the annealing process, Sb2(S, Se)3solar cells with an improved power conversion efficiency 2.04 to 8.48% are obtained.
- Award ID(s):
- 1950785
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10398154
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Solar RRL
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2367-198X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
Abstract -
Trigonal Cu2BaGe1−
x Snx Se4(CBGTSe) has recently gained interest as a potential photovoltaic absorber to target mitigation of antisite defect formation in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4. This study examines partial substitution of Cu by Ag as a potential approach to tune the properties of Ag‐incorporated CBGTSe in the following aspects: 1) phase stability and crystal structure as a function of Ag content; 2) film morphology and grain structure; 3) charge carrier properties; 4) band positions; and 5) charge carrier kinetics and recombination. Up to 20% of Cu can be substituted by Ag in CBGTSe, while above 20% a phase mixture appears. Increasing Ag content induces larger average grain size and reduced hole carrier densities. In contrast, photoelectron spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements reveal negligible impact of Ag substitution on ionization potential (≈5.4 eV) and electron affinity (≈3.7 eV). Also, Ag content offers negligible impact on carrier lifetimes (few ns). Consistent with these fundamental properties, solar cells based on two different Ag/(Ag + Cu) ratios (≈0% and ≈20%) show comparable power conversion efficiencies (≈2.7–2.8%). These results indicate that CBGTSe films and solar cells may be less sensitive to Ag substitution compared to Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4, at least at the current level of absorber and device optimization. -
Photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen generation is a promising solar energy harvesting technique to address the concerns about the ongoing energy crisis. Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) with van der Waals‐bonded quasi‐1D (Q1D) nanoribbons, for instance, (Sb4Se6)
n , has attracted considerable interest as a light absorber with Earth‐abundant elements, suitable bandgap, and a desired sunlight absorption coefficient. By tuning its anisotropic growth behavior, it is possible to achieve Sb2Se3films with nanostructured morphologies that can improve the light absorption and photogenerated charge carrier separation, eventually boosting the PEC water‐splitting performance. Herein, high‐quality Sb2Se3films with nanorod (NR) array surface morphologies are synthesized by a low‐cost, high‐yield, and scalable close‐spaced sublimation technique. By sputtering a nonprecious and scalable crystalline molybdenum sulfide (MoS2) film as a cocatalyst and a protective layer on Sb2Se3NR arrays, the fabricated core–shell structured MoS2/Sb2Se3NR PEC devices can achieve a photocurrent density as high as −10 mA cm−2at 0 VRHEin a buffered near‐neutral solution (pH 6.5) under a standard simulated air mass 1.5 solar illumination. The scalable manufacturing of nanostructured MoS2/Sb2Se3NR array thin‐film photocathode electrodes for efficient PEC water splitting to generate solar fuel is demonstrated. -
Abstract The two‐step conversion process consisting of metal halide deposition followed by conversion to hybrid perovskite has been successfully applied toward producing high‐quality solar cells of the archetypal MAPbI3hybrid perovskite, but the conversion of other halide perovskites, such as the lower bandgap FAPbI3, is more challenging and tends to be hampered by the formation of hexagonal nonperovskite polymorph of FAPbI3, requiring Cs addition and/or extensive thermal annealing. Here, an efficient room‐temperature conversion route of PbI2into the α‐FAPbI3perovskite phase without the use of cesium is demonstrated. Using in situ grazing incidence wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (GIWAXS) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM‐D), the conversion behaviors of the PbI2precursor from its different states are compared. α‐FAPbI3forms spontaneously and efficiently at room temperature from P2(ordered solvated polymorphs with DMF) without hexagonal phase formation and leads to complete conversion after thermal annealing. The average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the fabricated solar cells is greatly improved from 16.0(±0.32)% (conversion from annealed PbI2) to 17.23(±0.28)% (from solvated PbI2) with a champion device PCE > 18% due to reduction of carrier recombination rate. This work provides new design rules toward the room‐temperature phase transformation and processing of hybrid perovskite films based on FA+cation without the need for Cs+or mixed halide formulation.
-
The antimony selenide thin film solar cells technology becomes promising due to its excellent anisotropic charge transport and brilliant light absorption capability. Especially, the device performance heavily relies on the vertically oriented Sb2Se3grain to promote photoexcited carrier transport. However, crystalline orientation control has been a major issue in Sb2Se3thin film solar cells. Herein, a new strategy has been developed to tailor the crystal growth of Sb2Se3ribbons perpendicular to the substrate by using the structural heterostructured CdS buffer layer. The heterostructured CdS buffer layer is formed by a dual layer of CdS nanorods and nanoparticles. The hexagonal CdS nanorods passivated by a thin cubic CdS nanoparticle layer can promote [211] and [221] directional growth of Sb2Se3ribbons using a close space sublimation approach. The improved buffer/absorber interface, reduced interface defects, and recombination loss contribute to the improved device efficiency of 7.16%. This new structural heterostructured CdS buffer layer can regulate Sb2Se3nanoribbons crystal growth and pave the way to further improve the low‐dimensional chalcogenide thin film solar cell efficiency.