Additive engineering mechanisms in antimony chalcogenide solar cells: a focus on deeper understanding

Abstract

Antimony chalcogenides represent a promising thin-film solar cell technology, offering inherently high stability, composed of elements more abundant than those used in established technologies such as CIGS and CdTe, and with the potential to approach the Shockley–Queisser efficiency limit of ∼33%. However, the current efficiencies are low compared to the market leader, silicon, at around 10%. Chemical additives have been employed to achieve this efficiency, and many research groups believe they are key to achieving even higher efficiencies. However, to achieve that a keen focus on the mechanisms underlying the improvements gained from these additives is necessary, so upcoming research can build upon that prior work and more widely applicable knowledge in the field can be gained. In this article, we highlight some examples where the explanation/exploration of the mechanisms is done to an excellent degree. We hope that by highlighting these examples, steps will be taken towards more mechanism-focussed studies, which will yield more knowledge of the systems and behaviours present in antimony chalcogenide solar cells and the additives used to improve them.