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Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) emerges as a promising sunlight absorber in thin film photovoltaic applications due to its excellent light absorption properties and carrier transport behavior, attributed to the quasi‐one‐dimensional Sb4Se6‐nanoribbon crystal structure. Overcoming the challenge of aligning Sb2Se3‐nanoribbons normal to substrates for efficient photogenerated carrier extraction, a solution‐processed nanocrystalline Sb2(S,Se)3‐seeds are employed on the CdS buffer layer. These seeds facilitate superstrated Sb2Se3 thin film solar cell growth through a close‐space sublimation approach. The Sb2(S,Se)3‐seeds guided the Sb2Se3 absorber growth along a [002]‐preferred crystal orientation, ensuring a smoother interface with the CdS window layer. Remarkably, Sb2(S,Se)3‐seeds improve carrier transport, reduce series resistance, and increase charge recombination resistance, resulting in an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 7.52%. This cost‐effective solution‐processed seeds planting approach holds promise for advancing chalcogenide‐based thin film solar cells in large‐scale manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) has excellent directional optical and electronic behaviors due to its quasi‐1D nanoribbons structure. The photovoltaic performance of Sb2Se3 solar cells largely depends on the orientation of the nanoribbons. It is desired to grow these Sb2Se3 ribbons normal to the substrate to enhance photoexcited carrier transport. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a strategy for the vertical growth of Sb2Se3 nanoribbons to achieve high‐efficiency solar cells. Since antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) and Sb2Se3 are from the same space group (Pbnm) and have the same crystal structure, herein an ultrathin layer (≈20 nm) of Sb2S3 has been used to assist the vertical growth of Sb2Se3 nanoribbons to improve the overall efficiency of Sb2Se3 solar cell. The Sb2S3 thin layer deposited by the hydrothermal process helps the Sb2Se3 ribbons grow normal to the substrate and increases the efficiency from 5.65% to 7.44% through the improvement of all solar cell parameters. This work is expected to open a new direction to tailor the Sb2Se3 grain growth and further develop the Sb2Se3 solar cell in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Low cost and stable solution-processed inorganic NiOx hole transport layer for Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells. • Close space sublimation deposition of the Sb 2 Se 3 absorber material. • Sb 2 Se 3 with NiOx hole transport layer achieve a power conversion efficiency ~7.3%. • The stability of the Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells with NiOx hole transport layer can be improved. Sb 2 Se 3 is a promising absorber material for thin-film solar cells owing to its earth-abundant and non-toxic constituents, superior optoelectronic properties, and unique one-dimensional crystal structure. To further increase the power conversion efficiency of the Sb 2 Se 3 , we fabricated an n-i-p structure by integrating a solution-processed NiO x hole-transport layer (HTL) into Sb 2 Se 3 solar cells to enhance the carrier collection. In this study, we systematically screen the thickness of NiO x HTL and demonstrate an improved average power conversion efficiency from 6.12% to 7.15% with a 50 nm NiO x HTL. The mechanism associated with the improved device performance was characterized through the microstructure of the material, device physics, and interface electronic behaviors. It is also shown that the low-cost and scalable solution-processed NiO x HTL can improve device stability under an accelerated stress test. Thus, this work paves a way to further improve the performance of antimony chalcogenides-based solar cells via tailoring the inorganic HTL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]