Low processing temperatures explored in Sb2S3 solar cells by close-spaced sublimation and analysis of bulk and interface related defects

Krautmann, Robert; Spalatu, Nicolae; Josepson, Raavo; Nedzinskas, Ramūnas; Kondrotas, Rokas; Gržibovskis, Raitis; Vembris, Aivars; Krunks, Malle; Açik, Ilona Oja

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2022.112139

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…It can be obviously seen that the (020), (120), ( 220), ( 130), (310), ( 021), ( 230), (211), and (221) diffraction peaks are existed in the five types of Sb 2 S 3 samples, which suggests the formation of high-crystallinity Sb 2 S 3 films. [36][37][38] Surprisingly, the diffraction intensities order of (120) and (211) peaks in Sb 2 S 3 -control, Sb 2 S 3 -0.1, Sb 2 S 3 -0.2, Sb 2 S 3 -0.3, and Sb 2 S 3 -0.4 films are Sb 2 S 3 -0.4 > Sb 2 S 3 -0.3 % Sb 2 S 3 -0.2 % Sb 2 S 3 -0.1 > Sb 2 S 3 -control (Figure 3b). This reveals that hydrothermal sulfuration could enhance the crystallinity at a mild heating temperature (160 °C), and the sulfuration effect is related to the volume of the (NH 4 ) 2 S. Furthermore, the SEM results demonstrate that the grain size of Sb 2 S 3 film did not change after hydrothermal sulfuration (Figure 2a-e).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells

et al. 2023

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Chalcogenide-based solar cells, such as Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se) 2 (CIGSSe), [1] CdTe, [2] Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe), [3,4] CuSb(S, Se) 2 , [5] NaSbS 2 , [6] AgBiS 2 , [7] SnS, [8] GeSe, [9] and Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 , [10,11] are emerging photovoltaic systems with great application potential. Currently, the record efficiencies of CIGSSe and CdTe photovoltaic devices are over 22%. [12] Furthermore, the certified efficiencies of CZTSSe [3] and Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 [13] solar cells have achieved ≥10% efficiencies. Besides, CZTS [14,15] and Sb 2 S 3 [16] have shown a bright application prospect because it does not contain the relatively rare and relatively expensive Se. In particular, it should be pointed out that Sb 2 S 3 solar cell has attracted extensive attention, due to its advantages of large absorption coefficient, suitable bandgap, earth-abundant, and nontoxic compositions. [17][18][19] However, the device performance of Sb 2 S 3 solar cell is still seriously limited by anion-vacancy-induced defects (i.e., V S and Sb S ) that make it obviously lower than the Sb 2 Se 3 or Sb 2 (S,Se) 3 photovoltaic devices. [20][21][22][23] Therefore, developing a mild, efficient, and low-cost method to suppress sulfur-vacancy-induced defects is an important solution to improve the device performances of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells.Currently, sulfuration is an efficient approach to passivate V S and Sb S defects of Sb 2 S 3 absorber layers due to its significant role in improving the content of S. There are five types of sulfur sources that have been reported to treat Sb 2 S 3 and CZTSSe absorber layers: elemental sulfur, [24] H 2 S, [25] thiourea (TU), [26,27] thioacetamide (TA), [28] and ammonium sulfide ((NH 4 ) 2 S). [29] Massspectrometric results have indicated that the presence of all possible S n molecules between S 2 and S 8 in measurable concentration between room temperature and the boiling point of sulfur (444.6 °C). [30] In addition, the highly active S 2 can only be guaranteed in large quantities at high temperatures, but Sb 2 S 3 cannot tolerate such annealing temperatures due to low melting point (550 °C), which makes it difficult to effectively passivate the defects in Sb 2 S 3 using elemental sulfur. At present, H 2 S sulfuration is the most efficient sulfuration method, but its high toxicity and corrosiveness greatly increase the complexity and danger. [25] Essentially, the sulfuration processes using TU, TA,

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells

et al. 2023

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“…67 Recently, Krautmann et al have reported a similar variation of room temperature PL analysis of the synthesized Sb 2 S 3 lms by close-spaced sublimation, where they found two PL peaks located at 1.72 eV and 1.40 eV. 68 Meanwhile, Aslan et al performed PL analysis for dip-coating Sb 2 S 3 lms photodetector. Therein the authors have found three PL emissions peaks located at 400, 521, and 652.5 nm.…”

Section: Photoluminescence Spectroscopymentioning

confidence: 94%

Gamma-irradiated stibnite thin films set a remarkable benchmark performance for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Chihi

2024

RSC Adv.

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“…The single-phase structure and relatively low melting point at 611 °C have enabled the deposition of Sb 2 Se 3 by physical vapor techniques, such as magnetron sputtering (Tang et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2022), close-spaced sublimation (CSS) (Hobson et al, 2020;Spalatu et al, 2021) and vapor transport deposition (VTD) (Wen et al, 2018). To date, almost all the record PCEs for Sb 2 Se 3 PV devices, including the record 9.2% , have been achieved with CSS and VTD fabrication techniques (Krautmann et al, 2023). Since Sb 2 Se 3 is composed of quasi-one-dimensional ribbons, the charge transfer across the absorber film is strongly dependent on which crystal direction the Sb 2 Se 3 ribbons align (Chen et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post deposition annealing effect on properties of CdS films and its impact on CdS/Sb2Se3 solar cells performance

Vadakkedath Gopi,

Spalatu,

Basnayaka

et al. 2023

Front. Energy Res.

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Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) is one of the emerging photovoltaic absorber materials possessing abundance and non-toxicity as the main attributes. Following CdTe technology, CdS is a widely used partner layer for Sb2Se3 solar cells. Related to CdS/Sb2Se3 device configuration, a number of studies reported findings and challenges regarding the intermixing phenomenon at the main interface and suitability of various annealing for CdS (and related interface) and still, significant room remains in developing strategies for interface optimization and understanding of the physiochemistry behind. In this perspective, this work provides a systematic investigation of the effect of vacuum and air annealing at temperatures between 200 and 400°C on the properties of CdS deposited by chemical bath deposition and combined with Sb2Se3 absorber obtained by close-spaced sublimation the direct impact of the CdS annealing on the device performance is illustrated. It is found that by varying the annealing temperature from 200 to 400°C in both, vacuum and air ambient, the morphology of CdS changes from highly dispersed small grain structure to sintered dense grains, the band gap decreases from 2.43 to 2.35 eV and the electron density drops from ∼1018 to ∼1011 cm−3. These changes were correlated with the changes in the CdS lattice and connected with the mobility of the OH group and the presence of secondary phases in CdS layers. 200°C air annealing of CdS was found as an optimal treatment resulting in 2.8% Sb2Se3/CdS cell efficiency - a 60% boost compared to the 1.8% performance of the device with as-deposited CdS. Material and device characterization analysis is performed, providing complementary insights on the interrelation between the physicochemical mechanism of the CdS annealing processes and device functionality.

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Low processing temperatures explored in Sb2S3 solar cells by close-spaced sublimation and analysis of bulk and interface related defects

Cited by 18 publications

References 48 publications

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells

Gamma-irradiated stibnite thin films set a remarkable benchmark performance for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Post deposition annealing effect on properties of CdS films and its impact on CdS/Sb2Se3 solar cells performance

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Low processing temperatures explored in Sb2S3 solar cells by close-spaced sublimation and analysis of bulk and interface related defects

Cited by 18 publications

References 48 publications

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb2S3 Solar Cells

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb2S3 Solar Cells

Gamma-irradiated stibnite thin films set a remarkable benchmark performance for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Post deposition annealing effect on properties of CdS films and its impact on CdS/Sb2Se3 solar cells performance

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A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells

A Robust Hydrothermal Sulfuration Strategy toward Effective Defect Passivation Enabling 6.92% Efficiency Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells