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Title: Both Free and Trapped Carriers Contribute to Photocurrent of Sb2Se3 Solar Cells

Abstract

Polycrystalline semiconductor films, such as methylammonium lead iodide, cadmium telluride, copper-indium-gallium selenide, etc., are being intensively studied due to their great potential for highly efficient and cost-effective solar cells. Among them, polycrystalline antimony chalcogenide films are also promising for photovoltaic applications because they are nontoxic, stable, flexible, and have a suitable bandgap. Considerable effort has already been devoted to improving the power conversion efficiency of antimony chalcogenide solar cells, but their efficiency still lingers below 10% due in part to scarce fundamental optoelectronic studies that help guide their development. Here, we use a combination of time-resolved terahertz and transient absorption spectroscopies to interrogate the optoelectronic behavior of antimony selenide thin films. By combining these two techniques we are able to monitor both free and trapped carrier dynamics and then evaluate their respective diffusion lengths. Our results indicate that trapped carriers remain mobile and can reach charge collecting interfaces prior to recombination, and therefore, both free and trapped carriers can contribute to the photocurrent of antimony selenide solar cells.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Xiamen Univ. (China)
  2. Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China). Wuhan National Lab. for Optoelectronics (WNLO)
  3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1557430
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-72852
Journal ID: ISSN 1948-7185
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 17; Journal ID: ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; carrier dynamics; Sb2Se3; thin film

Citation Formats

Wang, Kang, Chen, Chao, Liao, Hongyan, Wang, Siyu, Tang, Jiang, Beard, Matthew C., and Yang, Ye. Both Free and Trapped Carriers Contribute to Photocurrent of Sb2Se3 Solar Cells. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01817.
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Wang, Kang, Chen, Chao, Liao, Hongyan, Wang, Siyu, Tang, Jiang, Beard, Matthew C., & Yang, Ye. Both Free and Trapped Carriers Contribute to Photocurrent of Sb2Se3 Solar Cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01817
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Wang, Kang, Chen, Chao, Liao, Hongyan, Wang, Siyu, Tang, Jiang, Beard, Matthew C., and Yang, Ye. Mon . "Both Free and Trapped Carriers Contribute to Photocurrent of Sb2Se3 Solar Cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01817. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1557430.
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@article{osti_1557430,
title = {Both Free and Trapped Carriers Contribute to Photocurrent of Sb2Se3 Solar Cells},
author = {Wang, Kang and Chen, Chao and Liao, Hongyan and Wang, Siyu and Tang, Jiang and Beard, Matthew C. and Yang, Ye},
abstractNote = {Polycrystalline semiconductor films, such as methylammonium lead iodide, cadmium telluride, copper-indium-gallium selenide, etc., are being intensively studied due to their great potential for highly efficient and cost-effective solar cells. Among them, polycrystalline antimony chalcogenide films are also promising for photovoltaic applications because they are nontoxic, stable, flexible, and have a suitable bandgap. Considerable effort has already been devoted to improving the power conversion efficiency of antimony chalcogenide solar cells, but their efficiency still lingers below 10% due in part to scarce fundamental optoelectronic studies that help guide their development. Here, we use a combination of time-resolved terahertz and transient absorption spectroscopies to interrogate the optoelectronic behavior of antimony selenide thin films. By combining these two techniques we are able to monitor both free and trapped carrier dynamics and then evaluate their respective diffusion lengths. Our results indicate that trapped carriers remain mobile and can reach charge collecting interfaces prior to recombination, and therefore, both free and trapped carriers can contribute to the photocurrent of antimony selenide solar cells.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01817},
journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters},
number = 17,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {8}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01817
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Cited by: 34 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Free carrier mobility and lifetime in the Sb2Se3 thin film. Frequency-dependent complex photoconductivity of the Sb2Se3 film at pump-probe delays of (a) 2 ps, (b) 10 ps and (c) 100 ps. The blue and red symbols represent the real and imaginary component of the complex photoconductivity, respectively. Themore » solid curves are the model (see text) (d) Comparison of THz kinetics and mid-IR transient absorption kinetics. The left and right vertical axes correspond to the relative change of the THz electric field and mid-IR absorption, respectively. The black trace shows a single exponential decay with time constant of 23.3±0.9 ps. Note that change in THz amplitude is inversed (-∆E/E) for a convenient plot.« less
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    Ultrafast self-trapping of photoexcited carriers sets the upper limit on antimony trisulfide photovoltaic devices
    journal, October 2019

    Ultrafast self-trapping of photoexcited carriers sets the upper limit on antimony trisulfide photovoltaic devices
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