Fabrication and characterization of a nanostructured TiO₂/In₂S₃-Sb₂S₃/CuSCN extremely thin absorber (eta) solar cell

Abstract

In this work we report the successful assembly and characterization of a TiO 2 /In 2 S 3 -Sb 2 S 3 / CuSCN extremely thin absorber solar cell. Nanostructured TiO 2 deposited by screen printing on an ITO substrate was used as an n-type electrode. An ∼80 nm extremely thin layer of the system In 2 S 3 -Sb 2 S 3 deposited by successive ionic layer adsorption and a reaction (silar) method was used as an absorber. The voids were filled with p-type CuSCN and the entire assembly was completed with a gold contact. The solar cell fabricated with this heterostructure showed an energy conversion efficiency of 4.9%, which is a promising result in the development of low cost and simple fabrication of solar cells.

Fabrication of Sb2S3 Thin Films by Low-Temperature Plasma-Sulfurizing Metallic Sb Layers

“…Oxygen was not detected, but a small amount of carbon was used for calibration (284.80 eV for C 1s) and was detected in the Sb MNN Auger spectrum at 1030.36 eV . With curve fitting, Sb 3d 5/2 of 529.877 eV and Sb 3d 3/2 of 539.077 eV corresponded to Sb 3+ , and S 2P 3/2 of 161.677 eV and S 2P 1/2 of 162.877 eV corresponded to S. − Compared with pure Sb and S, the binding energy of Sb shifts about 1.577 eV to the higher range and the binding energy of S shifts to 2.323 eV to the lower range. The binding energy shift indicates the charge transfer from antimony to sulfur .…”

“…Since then, Sb 2 S 3 thin-film solar cells have been extensively studied, and the preparation methods have become diversified. Considerable efforts have been devoted to improving the performance of Sb 2 S 3 thin-film solar cells using methods such as CBD, successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), atomic layer deposition (ALD), rapid thermal evaporation (RTE), hydrothermal, spin-coating, and magnetron sputtering . Among them, the CBD and SILAR methods cannot avoid the introduction of Sb 2 O 3 and SbOCl impurities, which reduces device performance.…”

Aqueous‐Solution‐Based Approach Towards Carbon‐Free Sb2S3 Films for High Efficiency Solar Cells

“…In this case, various methods have been developedf or the synthesis of Sb 2 S 3 .I nitially,c hemical bath deposition has been appliedf or the fabrication of aS b 2 S 3 extremely thin layer to sensitize aT iO 2 nanoparticle network. [16b] In addition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), [17] successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method, [18] and thermald eposition approaches have also been exploited for the synthesis of Sb 2 S 3 films. [15] Although this method is convenient and frequently applied fort he fabrication of Sb 2 S 3 films, the processing is highlys ensitive to the environment temperature, pH of the precursors olution, and the deposition duration.M oreover,t he chemicalb ath deposition method introduces oxide phases and generates defect states.…”

“…[16] By passivating the surfaced efects, ac hampione fficiencyo f7 .5 %w as reported for aS b 2 S 3 sensitized solar cell. [16b] In addition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), [17] successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method, [18] and thermald eposition approaches have also been exploited for the synthesis of Sb 2 S 3 films. [19] The ALD-derived Sb 2 S 3 generated aP CE of 5.77 %i naplanar heterojunction solar cell; [17] however,i tm ust be prepared by utilizingc omplex and expensive equipment under ultrahighv acuum conditions.…”

Phosphonic Acid and Lithium Salt as Effective p-Dopants to Oxidize Spiro-OMeTAD for Mesoscopic Sb2S3 Solar Cells

“…Moreover, these mesoscopic ETA devices can be fabricated using a cheap solution-based process such as chemical-bath deposition (CBD) and succeeding ion-layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) methods with a thin Sb 2 S 3 layer deposited on the surface of nanocrystalline TiO 2 that shows great stability in air. Hole-transporting materials (HTM) ,− of various types were thus reported for Sb 2 S 3 ETA solar cells; the best device performance used a conducting polymer (PCPDTBT) to attain an efficiency of power conversion (PCE) exceeding 6%. − …”