Enhanced photovoltaic performance of Sb2S3-sensitized solar cell using a novel Ni-4 mercaptophenol hybrid interfacial layer

Abstract

In this work, we introduced a novel Ni-4 mercaptophenol (Ni4MP) as an interfacial layer in Sb2S3-sensitized mesoporous TiO2 solar cells. Ni4MP thin films with controllable thickness were prepared by an integrated approach via atomic/molecular layer deposition techniques and were systematically characterized. Introduction of the Ni4MP interlayer significantly enhanced the photovoltaic performance and the interfacial charge transfer kinetics of Sb2S3-sensitized solar cells. The augmentation of open circuit voltage and short circuit density due to the insertion of a Ni4MP interlayer enhanced the power conversion efficiency of the solar cells from 2.07% to 2.79%, corresponding to a 35% increase in efficiency. This improvement in device performance was discussed based on the energy band diagram. We found that the Ni4MP interlayer can effectively extract the photogenerated holes from the Sb2S3 sensitizer due to the excellent band matching and hole scavenging characteristics, thus enhancing the charge transport and suppressing the recombination.