Facile control over the morphology of phase pure tin monosulfide (SnS) thin films, a promising future absorber for thin film solar cells, is enabled by controlling the growth kinetics in vapor transport deposition of congruently evaporated SnS. The pressure during growth is found to be a key factor in modifying the final shape of the SnS grains. The optimized cube‐like SnS shows p‐type with the apparent carrier concentration of ≈1017 cm−3 with an optical bandgap of 1.32 eV. The dense and flat surface morphology of 1 µm thick SnS combined with the minimization of pinholes directly leads to improved diode quality and increased shunt resistance of the SnS/CdS heterojunction (cell area of 0.30 cm2). An open‐circuit voltage of up to 0.3068 V is achieved, which is independently characterized at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER). Detailed high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis confirms the absence of detrimental secondary phases such as Sn2S3 or SnS2 in the SnS grains or at intergrain boundaries. The initial efficiency level of 98.5% is maintained even after six months of storage in air, and the final efficiency of the champion SnS/CdS cell, certified at the KIER, is 2.938% with an open‐circuit voltage of 0.2912 V.

No abstract

The pristine fluorine-doped SnO 2 (abbreviated as FTO) inverse opal (IO) was developed using a 410 nm polystyrene bead template. The nanolayered copper tungsten oxide (CuWO 4) was decorated on the FTO IO film using a facile electrochemical deposition, subsequently followed by annealing at 500 o C for 90 min. The morphologies, crystalline structure, optical properties and photoelectrochemical characteristics of the FTO and CuWO 4-decorated FTO (briefly denoted as FTO/ CuWO 4) IO film were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-vis spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, showing FTO IO in the hexagonally closed-pack arrangement with a pore diameter and wall thickness of about 300 nm and 20 nm, respectively. Above this film, the CuWO 4 was electrodeposited by controlling the cycling number in cyclic voltammetry, suggesting that the CuWO 4 formed during 4 cycles (abbreviated as CuWO 4 (4 cycles)) on FTO IO film exhibited partial distribution of CuWO 4 nanoparticles. Additional distribution of CuWO 4 nanoparticles was observed in the case of FTO/CuWO 4 (8 cycles) IO film. The CuWO 4 layer exhibits triclinic structure with an indirect band gap of approximately 2.5 eV and shows the enhanced visible light absorption. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) behavior was evaluated in the 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 solution under solar illumination, suggesting that the FTO/CuWO 4 (4 cycles) IO films exhibit a photocurrent density (J s c

No abstract

No abstract