Chalcogenide Materials and Derivatives for Photovoltaic Applications

Chalcogenide AB(S,Se)(3) materials have recently attracted increased attention as they could simultaneously solve both the stability and toxicity issues faced by conventional perovskite solar cells. Computer-aided design of metal chalcogenide semiconductors has experienced important progress over the past few years, leading to the discovery of very promising AB(S,Se)(3) compounds and derivatives for application as absorbers in thin-film photovoltaic devices. Experimental evidence demonstrates that the synthesis of such compounds is possible, confirming the theoretical predictions, although more research work needs to be done to further investigate the optoelectrical properties of the corresponding thin films. With the aim to provide an exhaustive starting point to further develop chalcogenide absorbers and related devices, this Review presents both an overview of the predicted chalcogenide materials and interesting derivatives for thin-film solar cells applications, as well as a summary of the synthesis techniques developed so far to prepare such materials. The possible challenges that can be encountered during the development of chalcogenide-based solar cells are also discussed.