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arXiv · 2406.06807

Additive engineering for Sb$_2$S$_3$ indoor photovoltaics with efficiency exceeding 17%

Xiao Chen·Xiaoxuan Shu·Jiangcheng Zhou·Lei Wan·Peng Xiao·Yuchen Fu·Junzhi Ye·Yi-Teng Huang·Bin Yan·Dingjiang Xue·Tao Chen·Jiejie Chen·Robert L. Z. Hoye·Ru Zhou
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Abstract

Indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) have attracted increasing attention for sustainably powering Internet of Things (IoT) electronics. Sb$_2$S$_3$ is a promising IPV candidate material with a bandgap of ~1.75 eV, which is near the optimal value for indoor energy harvesting. However, the performance of Sb$_2$S$_3$ solar cells is limited by nonradiative recombination, closely associated with the poor-quality absorber films. Additive engineering is an effective strategy to improved the properties of solution-processed films. This work shows that the addition of monoethanolamine (MEA) into the precursor solution allows the nucleation and growth of Sb$_2$S$_3$ films to be controlled, enabling the deposition of high-quality Sb$_2$S$_3$ absorbers with reduced grain boundary density, optimized band positions and increased carrier concentration. Complemented with computations, it is revealed that the incorporation of MEA leads to a more efficient and energetically favorable deposition for enhanced heterogeneous nucleation on the substrate, which increases the grain size and accelerates the deposition rate of Sb$_2$S$_3$ films. Due to suppressed carrier recombination and improved charge-carrier transport in Sb$_2$S$_3$ absorber films, the MEA-modulated Sb$_2$S$_3$ solar cell yields a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.22% under AM1.5G illumination, and an IPV PCE of 17.55% under 1000 lux white light emitting diode (WLED) illumination, which is the highest yet reported for Sb$_2$S$_3$ IPVs. Furthermore, we construct high performance large-area Sb$_2$S$_3$ IPV modules to power IoT wireless sensors, and realize the long-term continuous recording of environmental parameters under WLED illumination in an office. This work highlights the great prospect of Sb$_2$S$_3$ photovoltaics for indoor energy harvesting.

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Xiao Chen, Xiaoxuan Shu, Jiangcheng Zhou, Lei Wan, Peng Xiao, Yuchen Fu, Junzhi Ye, Yi-Teng Huang, Bin Yan, Dingjiang Xue, Tao Chen, Jiejie Chen, Robert L. Z. Hoye, Ru Zhou. 2024-06-10. Additive engineering for Sb$_2$S$_3$ indoor photovoltaics with efficiency exceeding 17%. https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.06807

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