The photovoltaic field is currently working hard to identify the ideal candidate for a silicon-based tandem solar cell. From a material perspective, an ideal top cell has a bandgap of ~1.6 eV, high absorption coefficient, and consists of only earth abundant and ecofriendly materials. In addition, it should also be easy to manufacture, compatible with silicon, and have a long-term stable performance.

Solar cells based on antimony sulphide/selenide have all these desired properties, however, their solar cell performance was still too low with record efficiencies around the 7% range. On 20 July 2020, a team of researchers from China and Australia have reported the first antinomy sulphide/selenide with an efficiency above 10% in the journal Nature Energy [1].

They achieved this landmark result by optimising the deposition and post-processing step of the absorber material resulting in a significant improvement in its morphology, grain size, and a reduction in the defect density in the film. This result illustrates the potential for this material as a candidate for future silicon-based tandem solar cells.

[1]  R. Tang, X. Wang, W. Lian, J. Huang, Q. Wei, M. Huang, Y. Yin, C. Jiang, S. Yang, G. Xing, S. Chen, C. Zhu, X. Hao, M. A. Green, and T. Chen, “Hydrothermal deposition of antimony selenosulfide thin films enables solar cells with 10% efficiency,” Nature Energy, 5, pages587–595(2020).