Material processing is critical for obtaining high-performance solar cells, which influences the morphological, crystal, and electrical properties of the functional materials in a device. Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 can be considered as a quasi-binary compound since sulfur and selenium can be alloyed with a continuous ratio due to the identical crystal structure of Sb 2 S 3 and Sb 2 Se 3 and close ionic radius between sulfur and selenium. [1-3] This simple chemical composition allows for facile synthesis of Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 film with a well-defined crystal structure. In this regard, both

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Binary Sb2Se3 semiconductors are promising as the absorber materials in inorganic chalcogenide compound photovoltaics due to their attractive anisotropic optoelectronic properties. However, Sb2Se3 solar cells suffer from complex and unconventional intrinsic defects due to the low symmetry of the quasi‐1D crystal structure resulting in a considerable voltage deficit, which limits the ultimate power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this work, the creation of compact Sb2Se3 films with strong [00l] orientation, high crystallinity, minimal deep level defect density, fewer trap states, and low non‐radiative recombination loss by injection vapor deposition is reported. This deposition technique enables superior films compared with close‐spaced sublimation and coevaporation technologies. The resulting Sb2Se3 thin‐film solar cells yield a PCE of 10.12%, owing to the suppressed carrier recombination and excellent carrier transport and extraction. This method thus opens a new and effective avenue for the fabrication of high‐quality Sb2Se3 and other high‐quality chalcogenide semiconductors.

We report systematic design and formation of plasmonic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by integrating Au@TiO core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) into porous TiO and/or perovskite semiconductor capping layers. The plasmonic effects in the formed PSCs are examined. The most efficient configuration is obtained by incorporating Au@TiO NPs into both the porous TiO and the perovskite capping layers, which increases the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 12.59% to 18.24%, demonstrating over 44% enhancement, compared with the reference device without the metal NPs. The PCE enhancement is mainly attributed to short-circuit current improvement. The plasmonic enhancement effects of Au@TiO core-shell nanosphere photovoltaic composites are explored based on the combination of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, external quantum efficiency (EQE), photocurrent properties, and photoluminescence (PL). The addition of Au@TiO nanospheres increased the rate of exciton generation and the probability of exciton dissociation, enhancing charge separation/transfer, reducing the recombination rate, and facilitating carrier transport in the device. This study contributes to understanding of plasmonic effects in perovskite solar cells and also provides a promising approach for simultaneous photon energy and electron management.

Environmentally benign and potentially cost‐effective Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells have drawn much attention by continuously achieving new efficiency records. This article reports a compatible strategy to enhance the efficiency of planar n–i–p Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells through Sb 2 Se 3 surface modification and an architecture with oriented 1D van der Waals material, trigonal selenium (t‐Se). A seed layer assisted successive close spaced sublimation (CSS) is developed to fabricate highly crystalline Sb 2 Se 3 absorbers. It is found that the Sb 2 Se 3 absorber exhibits a Se‐deficient surface and negative surface band bending. Reactive Se is innovatively introduced to compensate the surface Se deficiency and form an (101) oriented 1D t‐Se interlayer. The p‐type t‐Se layer promotes a favored band alignment and band bending at the Sb 2 Se 3 /t‐Se interface, and functionally works as a surface passivation and hole transport material, which significantly suppresses interface recombination and enhances carrier extraction efficiency. An efficiency of 7.45% is obtained in a planar Sb 2 Se 3 solar cell in superstrate n–i–p configuration, which is the highest efficiency for planar Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells prepared by CSS. The all‐inorganic Sb 2 Se 3 solar cell with t‐Se shows superb stability, retaining ≈98% of the initial efficiency after 40 days storage in open air without encapsulation.