SnS Homojunction Solar Cell with n‐Type Single Crystal and p‐Type Thin Film. Issue 4 (25th February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kawanishi, Sakiko; Suzuki, Issei; Bauers, Sage R.; Zakutayev, Andriy; Shibata, Hiroyuki; Yanagi, Hiroshi; Omata, Takahisa
• Is Part Of: Solar RRL. Volume 5:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-02-25
• Subjects: pn homojunctions -- solar cells -- tin (II) sulfide; Solar energy -- Periodicals; Photovoltaic power generation -- Periodicals; Solar energy -- Research -- Periodicals; Photovoltaic power generation -- Research -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 333.7923
• DOI: 10.1002/solr.202000708
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2367-198X

Abstract

Abstract : Herein, a pn homojunction SnS solar cell is fabricated for the first time by the deposition of p‐type SnS polycrystalline thin films on the recently reported large n‐type SnS single crystals. The p‐type thin films consist of columnar grains that grow along the <100> direction, which is the same orientation as the n‐type single crystal. In addition, the interface of the pn homojunctions is void‐free and compositionally sharp. The SnS homojunction solar cell achieves an open‐circuit voltage ( V OC ) of 360 mV, which is as large as the highest V OC of previously reported SnS‐based heterojunction solar cells. The built‐in potential of the homojunction cell is 0.92 eV, which is close to the bandgap energy of SnS (≈1.1 eV), and larger than reported for heterojunctions (≈0.7 eV). The resulting 1.4% conversion efficiency ( η ) of the homojunction solar cell is smaller than the record 4–5% in heterojunctions, mainly due to the low short‐circuit current density ( J SC ) of 7.5 mA cm −2 . Once the device structure of the homojunction cell is optimized to efficiently collect the photogenerated carriers and achieve a comparable J SC as the conventional heterojunction cells (≈25 mA cm −2 ), high η exceeding 4–5% will be realized with improving the V OC . Abstract : An SnS homojunction solar cell is fabricated for the first time by the deposition of p‐type polycrystalline thin films on n‐type single crystals. The cell shows an open‐circuit voltage ( V OC ) of 360 mV and a conversion efficiency of 1.4%. The high V OC (≈the highest V OC of previously reported SnS‐based heterojunction cells) reveals the potential of the homojunction solar cells.