Carrier Transport Enhancement Mechanism in Highly Efficient Antimony Selenide Thin-Film Solar Cell

Exhibiting outstanding optoelectronic properties, antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) has attracted considerable interest and has been developed as a light absorber layer for thin-film solar cells over the decade. However, current state-of-the-art Sb2Se3 devices suffer from unsatisfactory “cliff-like” band alignment and severe interface recombination loss, which deteriorates device performance. In this study, the heterojunction interface of an Sb2Se3 solar cell is improved by introducing effective aluminum (Al3+) cation into the CdS buffer layer. Then, the energy band alignment of Sb2Se3/CdS:Al heterojunction is modified from a “cliff-like” structure to a “spike-like” structure. Finally, heterojunction interface engineering suppresses recombination losses and strengthens carrier transport, resulting in a high efficiency of 8.41% for the substrate-structured Sb2Se3 solar cell. This study proposes a facile strategy for interfacial treatment and elucidates the related carrier transport enhancement mechanism, paving a bright avenue to overcome the efficiency bottleneck of Sb2Se3 thin-film solar cells.