Selenium as a photoabsorber for inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells

Wang, Kai; Shi, Yantao; Zhang, Hong; Xing, Yujin; Dong, Qingshun; Ma, Tingli

doi:10.1039/c4cp02821j

Cited by 36 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Due to these advantages, in recent years, Se has regained some interest in the photovoltaics community, mainly as a possible high bandgap material for tandem devices. Se solar cell based on OPV architecture with mesoporous TiO 2 (mp‐TiO 2 ), as electron transfer layer (ETL), and P3HT or PEDOT:PSS (poly(3‐hexylthiophene) or poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene)−polystyrenesulfonic acid), as hole transfer layers (HTL), showed moderate PCE of 2.6% . Se device fabricated by electrochemical deposition on top of mp‐TiO 2 ETL showed PCE of 3.0% .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern Processing and Insights on Selenium Solar Cells: The World's First Photovoltaic Device

Hadar

Song

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

107

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The first solid‐state solar cells, fabricated ≈140 years ago, were based on selenium; these early studies initiated the modern research on photovoltaic materials. Selenium shows high absorption coefficient and mobility, making it an attractive absorber for high bandgap thin film solar cells. Moreover, the simplicity of a single element absorber, its low‐temperature processing, and intrinsic environmental stability enable the utilization of selenium in extremely cheap and scalable solar cells. In this paper, a detailed study of selenium solar cell fabrication is presented, and the key factors that affect the selenium film morphology and the resulting device efficiency are presented. Specifically, the crystallization process from amorphous film into functional crystalline device is studied. The importance of controlling the process is shown, and methods to align the growth orientation are suggested. Finally, the crystallization process under illumination, which has general importance for the fabrication of thin film photovoltaics, is investigated. Specifically for selenium, the illumination significantly improves the film morphology and leads to device efficiency of 5.2%, with open‐circuit voltage of 0.911 V, short‐circuit current density of 10.2 mA cm−2, and fill factor of 55.0%. These findings form a solid foundation for future improvements of the photovoltaic material and device architecture.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern Processing and Insights on Selenium Solar Cells: The World's First Photovoltaic Device

Hadar

Song

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

107

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“…[ 17–19 ] Among these methods, thermal evaporation technology has become the major way to fabricate the photoactive trigonal Se ( t ‐Se) films. [ 13,20,21 ] Especially, the gradient thermal evaporation method has been found to efficiently improve the performance of SSCs. [ 22 ] Although the fabrication methods are relatively mature, the generation/recombination, extraction, and transport of photo‐induced carriers in the as‐fabricated devices are not sufficiently explored, which weakens the theoretical establishment to further improve the performance of SSCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employing Equivalent Circuit Models to Study the Performance of Selenium‐Based Solar Cells with Polymers as Hole Transport Layers

Liu

Fan

et al. 2021

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Selenium(Se)‐based solar cells (SSCs), known as one of the oldest solar cells, have regained intense attention due to the advantages of Se including direct bandgap, good stability, and single absorber. Among all kinds of device structures, conventional n‐i‐p SSCs with top organic hole transport layers (HTLs) show great potential since organic HTLs could be well‐designed to smoothly extract holes from the Se single absorber and protect the Se surface. However, till now, the performance of Se solar cells with organic HTLs is not as good as expected. To address this issue, herein, the SSCs are first presented with organic polymers as the HTLs with the improved efficiency up to 4.3%, which is the highest one in organic HTLs‐based SSCs. Additionally, comparing with perovskite solar cells, it is found that the recombination process is the key factor that influences the performance of SSCs. It is believed that the further optimization of the Se active layer and the design of new and suitable organic HTLs for SSCs should be the main focus to suppress the undesired recombination processes of Se films. Such realization would boost the efficiency of the as‐fabricated SSCs.

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“…This structure is similar to some modern hybrid perovskite solar cells without an advanced hole-transport layer 17 . Some recent works explored additional elements, such as mesoporous TiO 2 in combination with poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole-transport layers 18, 19 . However, these approaches have not yet achieved improved efficiency values.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrathin high band gap solar cells with improved efficiencies from the world’s oldest photovoltaic material

et al. 2017

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Selenium was used in the first solid state solar cell in 1883 and gave early insights into the photoelectric effect that inspired Einstein’s Nobel Prize work; however, the latest efficiency milestone of 5.0% was more than 30 years ago. The recent surge of interest towards high-band gap absorbers for tandem applications led us to reconsider this attractive 1.95 eV material. Here, we show completely redesigned selenium devices with improved back and front interfaces optimized through combinatorial studies and demonstrate record open-circuit voltage (V OC) of 970 mV and efficiency of 6.5% under 1 Sun. In addition, Se devices are air-stable, non-toxic, and extremely simple to fabricate. The absorber layer is only 100 nm thick, and can be processed at 200 ˚C, allowing temperature compatibility with most bottom substrates or sub-cells. We analyze device limitations and find significant potential for further improvement making selenium an attractive high-band-gap absorber for multi-junction device applications.

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Selenium as a photoabsorber for inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells

Cited by 36 publications

References 28 publications

Modern Processing and Insights on Selenium Solar Cells: The World's First Photovoltaic Device

Modern Processing and Insights on Selenium Solar Cells: The World's First Photovoltaic Device

Employing Equivalent Circuit Models to Study the Performance of Selenium‐Based Solar Cells with Polymers as Hole Transport Layers

Ultrathin high band gap solar cells with improved efficiencies from the world’s oldest photovoltaic material

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