Sb2Se3 solar cells employing metal-organic solution coated CdS buffer layer

Abstract As one of the most-successful n-type semiconductor material, cadmium sulfide (CdS) films have proven advantageous in thin film solar cells by a traditional chemical bath deposition (CBD) process. However, the CBD process generates large quantities of waste containing Cd2+, S2− and ammonia. Metal-organic solution coating method (MOSC) shows the outstanding advantages in fabrication metal sulfide thin films, such as the less waste during film fabrication, low preparation cost and high-productivity of raw material. Herein, pinhole-free, crack-free and uniform CdS thin films were made by MOSC and CBD, then served as the buffer layers of superstrate Sb2Se3 solar cells, respectively. The Sb2Se3 solar cells exhibit impressive conversion efficiency of 5.93%, demonstrating the great potential of MOSC to replace the traditional CBD process.