Interfacial evolution of AgBiS₂ absorber layer obtained by SILAR method in hybrid solar cells

Abstract

AgBiS 2 is a promising and environmentally friendly absorber material for use in hybrid solar cells (HSC). Here, we report a study on the evolution of interfacial phenomena observed during deposition of AgBiS 2 onto mesoporous TiO 2 by the twostage successive ionic layer adsorptionreaction method. With this approach, inorganic-organic HSC were assembled using Co 2+ doped P3HT as hole transport layer. Surface photovoltage spectroscopy and contact potential difference measurements corroborated a low density of trap states in the ternary chalcogenide and lack of majority carrier barriers, compared to the binary absorbers used as reference. The best HSC exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 2.87% under irradiation of 100 mW cm −2 , which is attractive for an easily scalable, no capping, no passivating synthesis of AgBiS 2 .

Design of Ag Injection in Bi2S3 (AgBiS2) Thin Films for Photoelectrochemical Cell and Solar Cell Applications

“…Solar performance of the present result is compared with previous reports and is given in table 6. From the table 6, it is noted that the device FTO/ AgBiS 2 /CdS/Ag has higher e ciency than that of AgBiS 2 /PTB7 [56], AgBiS 2 QDSSC [9], ITO/ZnO/AgBiS 2 /P3HT/MoO 3 /Al [17] devices whereas slightly lower than ITO/ZnO/AgBiS 2 /P3HT/Au [37] and ITO/ZnO/ AgBiS 2 /PTB7/MoO 3 /Ag [11,12] devices. By comparing with higher performance devices, the present study used AgBiS 2 coated on FTO as 'p' layer, CdS as 'n' layer and Ag metallic contact whereas in the previous investigations, the authors had used polymer layer for conducting enhancement, window layer for avoiding the loss of incident photons and Mo as metallic contact.…”

AgBiS2 as a photoabsorber for eco-friendly solar cells: a review

“…7 These trap states adversely influence the charge carrier dynamics and affect the current and voltage of the device. The generally observed lower V oc found in these AgBiS 2 devices mainly arises from these trap assisted recombination losses 42 and recombinations from mismatches of the bandgap energy alignment of the interface layers, which will be discussed in the sections ahead.…”

“…improved the PCE to 2.87% (ref. 42) with reduced trap states, opening scope for further research in this area.…”

“…SILAR is the in situ growth of AgBiS 2 NCs on the ETL (TiO 2 /ZnO), which can eliminate the requirement of capping by a ligand and its exchange, thus signicantly reducing the interface defect states. 19,29,42 Huang et al reported SILAR-developed AgBiS 2 NCs for the rst time as an absorber in solar cells. The device used ethanol as the solvent for sensitization, which enabled uniform deposition across the photoanode to attain an efficiency of 0.76%.…”

Novel Ag-based thin film solar cells: concept, materials, and challenges

“…However, AgBiS 2 NCs can grow in situ directly on the electron transport layer (ETL) through the SILAR method, avoiding the problems of insufficient ligand exchange and solvent residue during the spin coating process effectively, thus reducing the interface defects. 51 For the first time in 2013, Huang et al 44 reported AgBiS 2 absorber prepared by SILAR and 0.5% PCE for the device. Subsequently, Yanez et al 51 improved PCE to 2.87%.…”