Exploring Cu-Doping for Performance Improvement in Sb2Se3 Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Giulia Spaggiari; Danilo Bersani; Davide Calestani; Edmondo Gilioli; Enos Gombia; Francesco Mezzadri; Michele Casappa; Francesco Pattini; Giovanna Trevisi; Stefano Rampino

doi:10.3390/ijms232415529

Exploring Cu-Doping for Performance Improvement in Sb₂Se₃ Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 8;23(24):15529. doi: 10.3390/ijms232415529.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Materials for Electronics and Magnetism (IMEM), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
² Department of Mathematical, Physical and Computer Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 7/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
³ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.

Abstract

Copper-doped antimony selenide (Cu-doped Sb₂Se₃) thin films were deposited as absorber layers in photovoltaic solar cells using the low-temperature pulsed electron deposition (LT-PED) technique, starting from Sb₂Se₃ targets where part of the Sb was replaced with Cu. From a crystalline point of view, the best results were achieved for thin films with about Sb_1.75Cu_0.25Se₃ composition. In order to compare the results with those previously obtained on undoped thin films, Cu-doped Sb₂Se₃ films were deposited both on Mo- and Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) substrates, which have different influences on the film crystallization and grain orientation. From the current-voltage analysis it was determined that the introduction of Cu in the Sb₂Se₃ absorber enhanced the open circuit voltage (V_OC) up to remarkable values higher than 500 mV, while the free carrier density became two orders of magnitude higher than in pure Sb₂Se₃-based solar cells.

Keywords: Cu doping; Sb2Se3; pulsed electron deposition; thin-film solar cells.

Grants and funding

This work has benefited from the equipment and framework of the COMP-HUB Initiative, funded by the ‘Departments of Excellence’ program of the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research (MIUR, 2018-2022).