Boosting photovoltaic performance for Sb₂S₃ solar cells by ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal synthesis

Abstract

Bulk and surface trap-states in the Sb2S3 films are considered one of the crucial energy loss mechanisms for achieving high photovoltaic performance in planar Sb2S3 solar cells. Because ionic liquid additives offer interesting physicochemical properties to control the synthesis of inorganic material, in this work we propose the addition of 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (BMIMHS) into a Sb2S3 hydrothermal precursor solution as a facile way to fabricate low-defect Sb2S3 solar cells. Lower presence of small particles on the surface, as well as higher crystallinity are demonstrated in the BMIMHS-assisted Sb2S3 films. Moreover, analyses of dark current density/voltage J/V curves, surface photovoltage transient and intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy have suggested that adding BMIMHS results in high-quality Sb2S3 films and a successful defect passivation. Consequently, the best-performing BMIMHS-assisted device exhibits a 15.4% power conversion efficiency enhancement compared to that of control device. These findings show that ionic liquid BMIMHS can effectively be used to obtain high-quality Sb2S3 films with low-defects and improved optoelectronic properties.

Additive engineering by tetrabutylammonium iodide for antimony selenosulfide solar cells

“…The experimental SPV decays and their corresponding fits by using a bi-exponential model are shown in figure 4(d). According to this model, the recombination of the photogenerated free carriers in the Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 bulk, along with at the surface/interface contribute to the two components [26]. The overall fit shows an excellent agreement with the experimental data.…”

“…These substrates were exposed under UV light for 30 min to remove remnant organic residues. The TiO 2 and CdS compact layers, c-TiO 2 and c-CdS, respectively, were deposited sequentially according to previous literature [26]. The antimony selenosulfide films were growth by hydrothermal route from a precursor solution containing 20 mM antimony potassium tartrate trihydrate (Sigma-Aldrich, ⩾99%), 80 mM sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate (Sigma-Aldrich, ⩾99.5%), and 4.5 mM seleneourea (Sigma-Aldrich, 98%) dissolved in 40 ml DI water.…”

“…To complete the device fabrication, a spiro-OMeTAD solution [26] was spin-coated at 3000 rpm for 30 s, and annealed in air at 100 • C for 10 min. Later, Au electrodes were thermally evaporated.…”

Mechanism and Role of Nanotechnology in Photovoltaic Cells and Applications in Different Industrial Sectors

“…Explosive thermal emission is another major problem in ordinary cells that have been resolved through nanotechnology. In traditional solar cells, photocarriers relax from their initial energetic position to the band edge by thermal emission process before they can be extracted out from the devices [29][30][31][32].…”