Enhanced Efficiency and Stability in Sb<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub> Seed Layer Buffered Sb<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub> Solar Cells
Al Amin, Dian Li, Xiaomeng Duan, S. N. Vijayaraghavan, Harigovind Menon, Jacob Wall, Mark L. Weaver, Mark Ming‐Cheng Cheng, Yufeng Zheng, Lin Li, Feng Yan
Abstract
Abstract Antimony selenide (Sb 2 Se 3 ) has excellent directional optical and electronic behaviors due to its quasi‐1D nanoribbons structure. The photovoltaic performance of Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells largely depends on the orientation of the nanoribbons. It is desired to grow these Sb 2 Se 3 ribbons normal to the substrate to enhance photoexcited carrier transport. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the vertical growth of Sb 2 Se 3 nanoribbons to achieve high‐efficiency solar cells. Since antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) and Sb 2 Se 3 are from the same space group (Pbnm) and have the same crystal structure, herein an ultrathin layer (≈20 nm) of Sb 2 S 3 has been used to assist the vertical growth of Sb 2 Se 3 nanoribbons to improve the overall efficiency of Sb 2 Se 3 solar cell. The Sb 2 S 3 thin layer deposited by the hydrothermal process helps the Sb 2 Se 3 ribbons grow normal to the substrate and increases the efficiency from 5.65% to 7.44% through the improvement of all solar cell parameters. This work is expected to open a new direction to tailor the Sb 2 Se 3 grain growth and further develop the Sb 2 Se 3 solar cell in the future.