Room temperature synthesis of antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) for hybrid sensitized solar cells with efficiencies exceeding 5%

Aditya Sadhanala^a, Karl C. Gödel^a, Yong Chan Choi^b, Sang Il Seok^b, Bart Roose^c, Ullrich Steiner^c, Henry Snaith^d, Sandeep Pathak^d

^aUniversity of Cambridge - UK, The Old Schools, Trinity Ln, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK, Cambridge, United Kingdom

^bKorea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), 141 Gajeongro, Yuseong, Daejeon, 305, Korea, Republic of

^cAdolphe Merkle Institute, Rue des Verdiers, CH-1700 Fribourg

^dUniversity of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks rd, Oxford, 0, United Kingdom

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Karl C. Gödel, 022
Publication date: 5th February 2015

A chemical bath deposition for the aqueous synthesis of antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) is demonstrated, which can be carried out at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius) to produce absorber layers for antimony sulfide sensitized solar cells. Our method uses the hydrolysis of antimony chloride to complex antimony ions and decelerate the reaction at ambient conditions, which is normally carried out below 10 degrees Celsius. Otherwise, the method is based on the same precursor materials as for the low temperature deposition. This simplified deposition route enables us to build Sb2S3 sensitized, mesoporous-TiO2 solar cells with power conversion efficiencies exceeding 5% using the organic hole transporting material PCPDTBT. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements reveal a higher antimony oxide content for the room temperature deposition method which lead to lower conductivities of the Sb2S3 films. However, photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS) shows that the sub-bandgap trap-state density is lower in antimony sulfide films deposited with our room temperature method, compared to the standard low temperature deposition route. The antimony sulfide films were further characterized using x-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy. We believe that our work will contribute to the development of low-cost, stable and highly efficient solar cells.
Current voltage characteristic of a sensitized solar cell using a Sb2S3 absorption layer which was synthesized at room temperature. The inset shows schematically the composition of the device.
Choi, Y. C., Lee, D. U., Noh, J. H., Kim, E. K., and Seok, S. I. Advanced Functional Materials, March (2014). Ito, S., Tanaka, S., Manabe, K., and Nishino, H. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C May (2014). Moon, S.-J., Itzhaik, Y., Yum, J.-H., Zakeeruddin, S. M., Hodes, G., and Graetzel, M. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 1(10), 1524–1527 May (2010). Li, C., Yang, X., Liu, Y., Zhao, Z., and Qian, Y. Journal of Crystal Growth 255(3–4), 342–347 August (2003). Nair, M. T. S., Pena, Y., Campos, J., Garcia, V. M., and Nair, P. K. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 145(6), 2113–2120 (1998).

nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.

MATSUS

Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.

Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics

The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.

International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics

The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.