Solution‐Processed Compact Sb₂S₃ Thin Films by a Facile One‐Step Deposition Method for Efficient Solar Cells

Abstract

Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) is a promising photon‐harvesting material for solar cells. Herein, a facile one‐step deposition method is reported for controllably preparing Sb2S3 nanoparticle films with a preferential [221]‐orientation to a certain extent from a novel precursor solution, formed by dissolving antimony acetate and thiourea in acidified N,N‐dimethylformamide. With titania (TiO2) nanoparticle films as substrates for in situ‐growing Sb2S3 films, the high‐quality Sb2S3/TiO2 planar heterojunction films are obtained for efficient solar cells. The effects of the concentration and [S]/[Sb] molar ratio in the precursor solution on the Sb2S3 film formation and the device performance are investigated. A considerable power conversion efficiency of 5.74% is achieved under AM 1.5G illumination (100 mW cm−2), which is the highest efficiency for the solar cells based on solution‐processed Sb2S3 nanoparticle films by one‐step deposition method without further modification. A promising solution‐processing method is provided to prepare high‐quality Sb2S3 films for efficient solar cells and other optoelectronics.

Optoelectronic Modulation of Silver Antimony Sulfide Thin Films for Photodetection

“…The silver antimony sulfide thin film samples were prepared with the precursor method, which is similar to previous reports on Sb 2 S 3 28,29 and AgBiS 2 . 30 The film thickness could be precisely controlled by the spin-coating process and precursor concentration.…”

Improved Sb2S3/TiO2 Nanoarray Heterojunction Solar Cells by an Insulating Hole-Selective Tunneling Layer

“…6−8 Moreover, solution-processed Sb 2 S 3 films always have impurity phases (e.g., Sb 2 O 3 , SbOCl, and Sb(OH) 3 ) and surface defects (e.g., sulfur vacancy (V S ), Sb S antisite) to deteriorate the solar cell performance. 9,10 Many efforts have been attempted to improve the performance of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells, such as composition control, 10,11 orientation regulation, 6,7 and interfacial engineering. 12,13 Among those strategies, interfacial engineering is a more effective approach to suppress the interfacial carrier recombination for the devices with a greatly enhanced charge collection efficiency.…”

“…Antimony trisulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) possesses a broad spectral absorption range, a high absorption coefficient, a good solution processability and stability, which enable it to be a promising light absorber for photovoltaic applications. , The state-of-the-art Sb 2 S 3 solar cell has achieved the new power conversion efficiency (η) record of 8% in planar heterojunction devices after η = 7.5% in Sb 2 S 3 -sensitized mesoporous devices, but still lags far behind the Shockley–Queisser limit of η = 28.64% for single-junction Sb 2 S 3 solar cell with a typical band gap of 1.70 eV . Essentially, the performance of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells strongly depends on the preferred orientation of Sb 2 S 3 film due to one-dimensional crystalline structure with highly anisotropic properties in Sb 2 S 3 crystals. , It is desired to prepare Sb 2 S 3 thin films with a preferred crystallographic orientation along the [ hk 1] direction, typically [211] or [221], for the efficient solar cells with the (Sb 4 S 6 ) n ribbons almost parallel to substrate normal. − Moreover, solution-processed Sb 2 S 3 films always have impurity phases (e.g., Sb 2 O 3 , SbOCl, and Sb­(OH) 3 ) and surface defects (e.g., sulfur vacancy (V S ), Sb S antisite) to deteriorate the solar cell performance. , Many efforts have been attempted to improve the performance of Sb 2 S 3 solar cells, such as composition control, , orientation regulation, , and interfacial engineering. , Among those strategies, interfacial engineering is a more effective approach to suppress the interfacial carrier recombination for the devices with a greatly enhanced charge collection efficiency . For instance, Lee et al inserted a Ni-4 mercaptophenol layer between Sb 2 S 3 and hole-transporting material (HTM) layers and improved the η from 2.07 to 2.79% by increasing the extraction efficiency of photogenerated holes.…”

Reactive Ion Etching Activating TiO2 Substrate for Planar Heterojunction Sb2S3 Solar Cells with 6.06% Efficiency

“…In recent years, antimony sulfide solar cells as new types of solar cells have been widely studied due to its ideal bandgap for top cells of Si‐based tandem solar cells. For Sb 2 S 3 deposition method, many kinds of strategies, including hydrothermal method, [1b,2] vacuum evaporation method, [ 3 ] spin‐coating method, [ 4 ] chemical water bath deposition (CBD), [ 5 ] atomic layer deposition (ALD), [ 6 ] etc., have been developed. Considering device efficiency, the film prepared by hydrothermal method demonstrates higher value among those methods.…”