Concurrent investigation of antimony chalcogenide (Sb(2)Se(3) and Sb(2)S(3))-based solar cells with a potential WS(2) electron transport layer

Antimony (Sb) chalcogenides such as antimony selenide (Sb(2)Se(3)) and antimony sulfide (Sb(2)S(3)) have distinct properties to be used as absorber semiconductors for harnessing solar energy including high absorption coefficient, tunable bandgap, low toxicity, phase stability. The potentiality of Sb(2)Se(3) and Sb(2)S(3) as absorber material in Al/FTO/Sb(2)Se(3)(or Sb(2)S(3))/Au heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs) with 2D tungsten disulfide (WS(2)) electron transport layer (ETL) layer has been investigated numerically using SCAPS-1D solar simulator. A systematic investigation of the impact of physical properties of each active material of Sb(2)Se(3), Sb(2)S(3,) and WS(2) on photovoltaic parameters including layer thickness, carrier doping concentration, bulk defect density, interface defect density, carrier generation, and recombination. This study emphasizes the exploration of causes of low performance of actual devices and demonstrates the individual variation in the open-circuit voltage (V(OC)), short-circuit current density (J(SC)), fill factor (FF), power conversion efficiency (PCE) and quantum efficiency (QE). Thereby, highly potential heterostructures of Al/FTO/WS(2)/absorber (Sb(2)Se(3) or Sb(2)S(3))/Au proposed, in which, the PCE over 28.20 and 26.60% obtained with V(OC) of 850 and 1230 mV, J(sc) of 38.0 and 24.0 mA/cm(2), and FF of 86.0 and 89.0% for Sb(2)Se(3) and Sb(2)S(3) absorber, respectively. These detailed findings revealed that the Sb-chalcogenide heterostructure with potential WS(2) ETL can be used to realize the fabrication of feasible thin film solar cells and thus the design of high-efficiency high-current (HEHC) and high-efficiency high-voltage (HEHV) solar panels.