Magnetron sputtered Sb2Se3-based thin films towards high performance quasi-homojunction thin film solar cells

Abstract Sb2Se3 is a promising candidate for environment-friendly and cost-efficiently thin film photovoltaics thanks to its material advantages and superior optoelectronic properties. However, it has intrinsically low electrical conductivity, which leads to unsatisfactory device performance and limited scope of applications. Herein, we demonstrated an effective strategy of electrical conductivity-induced Sb2Se3-based photovoltaic performance improvement. Three Sb2Se3-based targets with chemical composition of Sb2Se3, Sb2Se3.3 and Sb2(Se0.9I0.1)3 have been firstly prepared by using high-temperature melting technique. Then the high-quality thin films can be obtained through an effective Radio Frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering process. A novel Sb2Se3 quasi-homojunction thin film solar cell was fabricated for the first time and the highest power conversion efficiency reaches already a highly interesting 2.65%. The combined features of unique quasi-homojunction device structure and advantageous full-vacuum preparation process further demonstrated its attractive potential for thin film photovoltaic applications.