Efficient and stable all-inorganic Sb2(S, Se)3 solar cells via manipulating energy levels in MnS hole transporting layers

The use of organic hole transport layer (HTL) Spiro-OMeTAD in various solar cells imposes serious stability and cost problems, and thus calls for inorganic substitute materials. In this work, a novel inorganic MnS film prepared by thermal evaporation has been demonstrated to serve as a decent HTL in high-performance Sb-2(S, Se)(3) solar cells, providing a cost-effective all-inorganic solution. A low-temperature air-annealing process for the evaporated MnS layer was found to result in a significant positive effect on the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Sb-2(S, Se)(3) solar cells, due to its better-matched energy band alignment after partial oxidation. Impressively, the device with the optimized MnS HTL has achieved an excellent PCE of about 9.24%, which is the highest efficiency among all-inorganic Sb-2(S, Se)(3) solar cells. Our result has revealed that MnS is a feasible substitute for organic HTL in Sb-based solar cells to achieve high PCE, low cost, and high stability. (C) 2021 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, an inorganic MnS film prepared by thermal evaporation was successfully demonstrated as a high-quality hole transport layer (HTL) in high-performance Sb-2(S, Se)(3) solar cells, offering a cost-effective all-inorganic solution. The optimized device achieved an impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.24%, the highest among all-inorganic Sb-2(S, Se)(3) solar cells.