Boosting VOC of antimony chalcogenide solar cells: A review on interfaces and defects

• Published in: Nano select Vol. 2; no. 10; pp. 1818 - 1848
• Main Authors: Dong, Jiabin, Liu, Yue, Wang, Zuoyun, Zhang, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2021; Wiley-VCH
• Subjects: antimony chalcogenide solar cells; Chalcogenides; defect; Defects; Efficiency; Electrodes; Energy conversion efficiency; Glass substrates; interface; Interfaces; Open circuit voltage; open‐circuit voltage deficit; Photovoltaic cells; R&D; recombination; Research & development; Solar cells; Solar energy absorbers; Thin films
• ISSN: 2688-4011; 2688-4011
• DOI: 10.1002/nano.202000288

Antimony chalcogenides, including Sb2S3, Sb2Se3, and Sb2(S,Se)3, have been developed as attractive non‐toxic and earth‐abundant solar absorber candidates among the thin‐film photovoltaic devices. Presently, a record certified power conversion efficiency of 10.5% has been demonstrated for antimony chalcogenide solar cells, which is significantly lower than that of Cu2(In,Ga)Se2 (23.35%) and CdTe (22.1%) thin‐film solar cells. The inferior performance in antimony chalcogenide solar cells is mainly owing to a large open‐circuit voltage (VOC) deficit resulted from the defect and interface‐assisted recombination. Herein, a comprehensive review on the recent advancements interface band alignment and defect passivation are carried out. This review will provide a solid understanding on the interfaces and defects of antimony chalcogenide solar cells, which is beneficial to the research and development of such kind of solar cells. Trap‐assisted and interface‐induced recombination is recognized as the most prominent for the large VOC deficit of antimony chalcogenide solar cells. This review focused on summary and discussion on the recent progress of boosting VOC in antimony chalcogenide based‐solar cells. New breakthrough in band alignment optimization and defect passivation may hold the key to developing efficient and stable antimony chalcogenide solar cells.