Scalable and efficient Sb2S3 thin-film solar cells fabricated by close space sublimation Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Antimony sulfide as a cost-effective, low-toxic, and earth-abundant solar cell absorber with the desired bandgap was successfully deposited using a scalable close space sublimation technique. The deposition process can separately control the substrate and source temperature with better engineering of the absorber quality. The device performance can reach 3.8% with the configuration of glass/FTO/CdS/Sb2S3/graphite back contact. The defect formation energy and the corresponding transition levels were investigated in detail using theoretical calculations. Our results suggest that Sb2S3 exhibits intrinsic p-type owing to S-on-Sb antisites (SSb) and the device performance is limited by the S vacancies. The localized conduction characterization at nanoscale shows that the non-cubic Sb2S3 has conductive grains and benign grain boundaries. The study of the defects, microstructure, and nanoscale conduction behavior suggests that Sb2S3 could be a promising photovoltaic candidate for scalable manufacturing.

published proceedings

  • APL MATERIALS

author list (cited authors)

  • Guo, L., Zhang, B., Li, S., Zhang, Q., Buettner, M., Li, L., Qian, X., & Yan, F.

citation count

  • 67

complete list of authors

  • Guo, Liping||Zhang, Baiyu||Li, Shan||Zhang, Qian||Buettner, Michael||Li, Lin||Qian, Xiaofeng||Yan, Feng

publication date

  • April 2019