Abstract
Herein, we report on a solution based approach for the preparation of thin films of copper antimony sulfide, an emerging absorber material for third generation solar cells. In this work, copper and antimony xanthates are used as precursor materials for the formation of two different copper antimony sulfide phases: chalcostibite (CuSbS2) and tetrahedrite (Cu12Sb4S13). Both phases were thoroughly investigated regarding their structural and optical properties. Moreover, thin films of chalcostibite and tetrahedrite were prepared on mesoporous TiO2 layers and photoinduced charge transfer in these metal sulfide/TiO2 heterojunctions was studied via transient absorption spectroscopy. Photoinduced charge transfer was detected in both the chalcostibite as well as the tetrahedrite sample, which is an essential property in view of applying these materials as light-harvesting agents in semiconductor sensitized solar cells.
Highlights
Copper antimony sul des are interesting absorber materials for sustainable, cost-efficient and scalable photovoltaics as they have high absorption coefficients, well suited band gaps and consist of abundant elements
While other metal chalcogenides like cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium sul de (CIGS) or copper zinc tin sul de (CZTS) are already well established as solar absorber materials, in contrast, copper antimony sul de based materials have received limited attention to date
The formation of these two materials could be realized by adjusting the molar ratios of the copper and antimony xanthates
Summary
Copper antimony sul des are interesting absorber materials for sustainable, cost-efficient and scalable photovoltaics as they have high absorption coefficients, well suited band gaps and consist of abundant elements. Paper metal sul des,[21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34] ternary (CuInS2)[35,36,37] and quaternary metal sul des (CZTS).[38] this solution based route employing metal xanthates was initially used to prepare nanocomposites of metal sul de nanoparticles in organic/polymeric matrices for the application in bulk heterojunction hybrid solar cells,[21,39,40] but this method is very well suited to prepare thin metal sul de lms on mesoporous metal oxide scaffolds for application in semiconductor sensitized solar cells.[41,42]. Evidence of photoinduced charge transfer across the copper antimony sul de/mesoporous TiO2 heterojunction demonstrates the potential of such architectures for solar cell applications
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