Antimony triselenide

Abstract: Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) has attracted increasing attention in photovoltaic applications due to its unique quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure, suitable optical band gap with a high extinction coefficient, and excellent stability. As a promising light-harvesting material, the available synthetic methods for the fabrication of a high-quality film have been quite limited and seriously impeded both the fundamental study and the efficiency improvement. Here, we developed a facile and low-cost hydrothermal method for in situ deposition of Sb2Se3 films for solar cell applications. In this process, we apply KSbC4H4O7 and Na2SeSO3 as the antimony and selenium sources, respectively, in which thiourea (TU) serves as an additive to suppress the formation of Sb2O3 impurities. As a result, improved phase purity and enhanced crystallinity of the Sb2Se3 film are thus obtained, along with decreased trap states. Finally, the planar heterojunction Sb2Se3 solar cell delivered a power conversion efficiency of 7.9%, which is thus far the highest reported efficiency among solution-processed Sb2Se3 solar cells. This simple procedure and efficiency achievement demonstrate the great potential of the hydrothermal deposition process for the fabrication of high-efficiency Sb2Se3 solar cells.

Abstract: Antimony triselenide (Sb2Se3) thin film was fabricated as the absorber layer in photovoltaic solar cell using magnetron sputtering deposition method. An additional selenization process was applied to increase the crystallinity of the film as well as to compensate for selenium loss during the sputtering process. Various analytical techniques were used to characterize the morphology and composition of the film. It was found that the annealing temperature is the key factor for thin film quality and the sample annealed at 350 °C shows the optimum result with a power conversion efficiency of 2.1%.

Abstract: The present contribution is devoted to the electrochemical deposition of Sb 2 Se 3 thin films from tartrate electrolyte. The study was conducted by potentiodynamic, potentiostatic and galvanostatic methods carried out under different conditions at Pt, Cu and Ni electrodes. The kinetics and mechanism of the electroreduction of antimony and selenite ions in the tartaric acid were studied separately for the electrochemical deposition. Comparison of the obtained polarization curves showed that co-deposition occurs between electroreduction potentials of antimony and selenium, indicating depolarization electrode effect for antimony ions. The influence of electrolyte compo­sition, pH, current density, temperature, etc. has been studied. On the basis of cyclic polarization, X-ray phase and SEM-EDX analyses, it is found that Sb-Se thin films are deposited on Pt and Ni electrodes, but not on Cu electrode. Black, uniform, crystalline and shiny films of the stoichiometric composition of Sb 2 Se 3 compound are deposited on Pt and Ni electrodes within the 338-348 K temperature interval, pH 1.85, current density of 2.5-3.0 A/dm 2 , and annealing temperature of 703 K. Experiments were carried out using the optimal electrolyte composition containing 0.05 M SbOCl + 0.05 M H 2 SeO 3 + 0.007 M C 4 H 6 O 6 .