Person:

Sun, Leizhi

SnS is a promising earth-abundant material for photovoltaic applications. Heterojuction solar cells were made by vapor deposition of p-type tin(II) sulfide, SnS, and n-type zinc oxysulfide, Zn(O,S), using a device structure of soda-lime glass/Mo/SnS/Zn(O,S)/ZnO/ITO. A record efficiency was achieved for SnS-based thin-film solar cells by varying the oxygen-to-sulfur ratio in Zn(O,S). Increasing the sulfur content in Zn(O,S) raises the conduction band offset between Zn(O,S) and SnS to an optimum slightly positive value. A record SnS/Zn(O,S) solar cell with a S/Zn ratio of 0.37 exhibits short circuit current density ((J_{sc})), open circuit voltage ((V_{oc})), and fill factor (FF) of (19.4 mA/cm^{2}), 0.244 V, and 42.97%, respectively, as well as an NREL-certified total-area power-conversion efficiency of 2.04% and an uncertified active-area efficiency of 2.46%.

Band alignment is critical to the performance of heterojunction thin film solar cells. In this letter, we report band alignment studies of SnS/Zn(O,S) heterojunctions with various compositions of Zn(O,S). Valence band offsets (VBOs) are measured by femtosecond laser pump/probe ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (fs-UPS) from which conduction band offsets (CBOs) are calculated by combining with band gaps obtained by optical transmission/reflection measurements. The SnS/Zn(O,S) heterojunctions with S/Zn ratios of 0.37 and 0.50 have desirable small positive CBOs, while a ratio of 0.64 produces an undesirable large positive CBO. The results are consistent with the device performance of SnS/Zn(O,S) solar cells.

Thin-film solar cells consisting of earth-abundant and non-toxic materials were made from pulsed chemical vapor deposition (pulsed-CVD) of SnS as the p-type absorber layer and atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Zn(O,S) as the n-type buffer layer. The effects of deposition temperature and annealing conditions of the SnS absorber layer were studied for solar cells with a structure of Mo/SnS/Zn(O,S)/ZnO/ITO. Solar cells were further optimized by varying the stoichiometry of Zn(O,S) and the annealing conditions of SnS. Post-deposition annealing in pure hydrogen sulfide improved crystallinity and increased the carrier mobility by one order of magnitude, and a power conversion efficiency up to 2.9% was achieved.

Tin(II) sulfide (SnS) is an earth-abundant, inexpensive, and non-toxic absorber material for thin film solar cells. SnS films are deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) through the reaction of a tin precursor, bis(N,N'-diisopropylacetamidinato)tin(II), and hydrogen sulfide. The SnS films demonstrate excellent surface morphology, crystal structure, phase purity, stoichiometry, elemental purity, and optical and electrical properties.

Reaction of 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaaminotriphenylene with Ni2+ in aqueous NH3 solution under aerobic conditions produces Ni3(HITP)2 (HITP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene), a new two-dimensional metalorganic framework (MOF). The new material can be isolated as a highly conductive black powder or dark blue-violet films. Two-probe and van der Pauw electrical measurements reveal bulk (pellet) and surface (film) conductivity values of 2 Scm -1 and 40 Scm -1, respectively, both records for MOFs and among the best for any coordination polymer.

((Sn,Al)O_x) composite films with various aluminum (Al) to tin (Sn) ratios were deposited using an atomic layer deposition technique. The chemisorption behavior of cyclic amide of tin(II) and trimethylaluminum were analyzed by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. Both precursors showed retarded and enhanced chemisorption on (Al_2O_3) and (SnO_2) surfaces, respectively. The films show highly anisotropic electrical conductivity, i.e., much higher resistivity in the direction through the film than parallel to the surface of the film. The cause of the anisotropy was investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, which showed a nanolaminate structure of crystalline (SnO_2) grains separated by thin, amorphous (Al_2O_3) monolayers. When the Al concentration was higher than ( \sim 35) atom percent, the composite films became amorphous, and the vertical and lateral direction resistivity values converged toward one value. By properly choosing the ratio of (SnO_2) and (Al_2O_3) subcycles, controlled adjustment of film electrical resistivity over more than 15 orders of magnitude was successfully demonstrated.