4.9% Efficient Sb₂S₃ Solar Cells from Semitransparent Absorbers with Fluorene-Based Thiophene-Terminated Hole Conductors

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Fluorene-based hole transport materials (HTMs) with terminating thiophene units are explored, for the first time, for antimony sulfide (Sb 2 S 3 ) solar cells. These HTMs possess largely simplified synthesis processes and high yields compared to the conventional expensive hole conductors making them reasonably economical. The thiophene unit-linked HTMs have been successfully demonstrated in ultrasonic spray-deposited Sb 2 S 3 solar cells resulting in efficiencies in the range of 4.7–4.9% with an average visible transmittance (AVT) of 30–33% (400–800 nm) for the cell stack without metal contact, while the cells fabricated using conventional P3HT have yielded an efficiency of 4.7% with an AVT of 26%. The study puts forward cost-effective and transparent HTMs that avoid a post-coating activation at elevated temperatures like P3HT, devoid of parasitic absorption losses in the visible region and are demonstrated to be well aligned for the band edges of Sb 2 S 3 thereby ascertaining their suitability for Sb 2 S 3 solar cells and are potential candidates for semitransparent applications.