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Evidence for Self-healing Benign Grain Boundaries and a Highly Defective Sb2Se3–CdS Interfacial Layer in Sb2Se3 Thin-Film Photovoltaics

Williams, Rhys E.; Ramasse, Quentin M.; McKenna, Keith P.; Phillips, Laurie J.; Yates, Peter J.; Hutter, Oliver S.; Durose, Ken; Major, Jonathan D.; Mendis, Budhika G.

Evidence for Self-healing Benign Grain Boundaries and a Highly Defective Sb2Se3–CdS Interfacial Layer in Sb2Se3 Thin-Film Photovoltaics Thumbnail


Authors

Rhys E. Williams

Quentin M. Ramasse

Keith P. McKenna

Laurie J. Phillips

Peter J. Yates

Oliver S. Hutter

Ken Durose

Jonathan D. Major



Abstract

The crystal structure of Sb2Se3 gives rise to unique properties that cannot otherwise be achieved with conventional thin-film photovoltaic materials, such as CdTe or Cu(In,Ga)Se2. It has previously been proposed that grain boundaries can be made benign provided only the weak van der Waals forces between the (Sb4Se6)n ribbons are disrupted. Here, it is shown that non-radiative recombination is suppressed even for grain boundaries cutting across the (Sb4Se6)n ribbons. This is due to a remarkable self-healing process, whereby atoms at the grain boundary can relax to remove any electronic defect states within the band gap. Grain boundaries can, however, impede charge transport due to the fact that carriers have a higher mobility along the (Sb4Se6)n ribbons. Because of the ribbon misorientation, certain grain boundaries can effectively block charge collection. Furthermore, it is shown that CdS is not a suitable emitter to partner Sb2Se3 due to Sb and Se interdiffusion. As a result, a highly defective Sb2Se3 interfacial layer is formed that potentially reduces device efficiency through interface recombination.

Citation

Williams, R. E., Ramasse, Q. M., McKenna, K. P., Phillips, L. J., Yates, P. J., Hutter, O. S., …Mendis, B. G. (2020). Evidence for Self-healing Benign Grain Boundaries and a Highly Defective Sb2Se3–CdS Interfacial Layer in Sb2Se3 Thin-Film Photovoltaics. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 12(19), 21730-21738. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c03690

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 21, 2020
Online Publication Date Apr 21, 2020
Publication Date May 13, 2020
Deposit Date May 22, 2020
Publicly Available Date Apr 21, 2021
Journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Print ISSN 1944-8244
Electronic ISSN 1944-8252
Publisher American Chemical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 12
Issue 19
Pages 21730-21738
DOI https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c03690

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Copyright Statement
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS applied materials & interfaces copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c03690





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