Chemically Deposited Tin Chalcogenides as Absorbers in Thin Film Solar Cells

Abstract

Attractive optical and electrical properties of tin chalcogenides, along with the abundance of Sn in the earth's crust project themselves as alternate p-type absorber materials in thin-film photovoltaic technologies. Cell structures prepared with SnS (ZB) of 500 nm and colloidal graphite paint as back contact showed a Voc of 344 mV, Jsc of 3.1 mA/cm2 with a fill factor FF of 0.37 and conversion efficiency η of 0.57 %. In SnO2:F/CdS/Sb2S3/SnSe cells prepared with an evaporated SnSe film, Voc of 607 mV, Jsc 3.9 mA/cm2 FF 0.26 and η of 0.61 % is obtained. We present here the details of the cell preparation and their characteristics.