Semitransparent Sb2S3 thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

Jako S Eensalu; Atanas Katerski; Erki Kärber; Lothar Weinhardt; Monika Blum; Clemens Heske; Wanli Yang; Ilona Oja Acik; Malle Krunks

doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.230

Semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin film solar cells by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis for use in solar windows

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2019 Dec 6:10:2396-2409. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.10.230. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Jako S Eensalu¹, Atanas Katerski¹, Erki Kärber^{1

2}, Lothar Weinhardt^{2

3}, Monika Blum⁴, Clemens Heske^{2

3}, Wanli Yang⁴, Ilona Oja Acik¹, Malle Krunks¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials and Environmental Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086, Estonia.
² Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4003, USA.
³ Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
⁴ Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA.

Abstract

The integration of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy in zero-energy buildings requires durable and efficient solar windows composed of lightweight and semitransparent thin film solar cells. Inorganic materials with a high optical absorption coefficient, such as Sb₂S₃ (>10⁵ cm^-1 at 450 nm), offer semitransparency, appreciable efficiency, and long-term durability at low cost. Oxide-free throughout the Sb₂S₃ layer thickness, as confirmed by combined studies of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and synchrotron soft X-ray emission spectroscopy, semitransparent Sb₂S₃ thin films can be rapidly grown in air by the area-scalable ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. Integrated into a ITO/TiO₂/Sb₂S₃/P3HT/Au solar cell, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.5% at air mass 1.5 global (AM1.5G) is achieved, which is a record among spray-deposited Sb₂S₃ solar cells. An average visible transparency (AVT) of 26% of the back-contact-less ITO/TiO₂/Sb₂S₃ solar cell stack in the wavelength range of 380-740 nm is attained by tuning the Sb₂S₃ absorber thickness to 100 nm. In scale-up from mm² to cm² areas, the Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells show a decrease in efficiency of only 3.2% for an 88 mm² Sb₂S₃ solar cell, which retains 70% relative efficiency after one year of non-encapsulated storage. A cell with a PCE of 3.9% at 1 sun shows a PCE of 7.4% at 0.1 sun, attesting to the applicability of these solar cells for light harvesting under cloud cover.

Keywords: antimony sulfide; semitransparent solar cells; solar windows; thin films; ultrasonic spray pyrolysis.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council project IUT19-4 “Thin films and nanomaterials by wet-chemical methods for next-generation photovoltaics” and European Regional Development Fund project TK141 (TAR16016EK) “Advanced materials and high-technology devices for energy recuperation systems”. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) is acknowledged for a personal research grant of E. K. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.