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Recent progress in the research on using CuSbS2 and its derivative CuPbSbS3 as absorbers in case of photovoltaic devices

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Abstract

Thin-film solar cells show considerable application potential as alternative photovoltaic technologies. Cuprous antimony chalcogen materials and their derivatives, represented as CuSbS2 and CuPbSbS3, respectively, exhibit the advantages of low cost, massive elemental abundance, stability, and good photoelectric properties, including a suitable bandgap and large optical absorption coefficient. These advantages demonstrate that they can be used as light absorbers in photovoltaic applications. In this study, we review the major properties, fabrication methods, and recent progress of the performance of the devices containing CuSbS2 and CuPbSbS3. Furthermore, the limitations and future development prospects with respect to the CuSbS2 and CuPbSbS3 solar cells are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61725401, and 61904058), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFA0204000), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2018M642825 and 2019M662623), the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talent (No. BX20190127), and the HUST Key Innovation Team for Interdisciplinary Promotion (Nos. 2016JCTD111 and 2017KFXKJC003). The authors would also like to thank the Analytical and Testing Center of HUST and the facility support of the Center for Nanoscale Characterization and Devices (CNCD), WNLO, HUST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sargent Joint Research Center, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Muyi Zhang, Chong Wang, Chao Chen & Jiang Tang

  2. China-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Muyi Zhang & Jiang Tang

  3. School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Jiang Tang

Authors
  1. Muyi Zhang
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  2. Chong Wang
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  3. Chao Chen
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  4. Jiang Tang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chao Chen.

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Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Muyi Zhang received his B.E. degree from the China University of Petroleum in 2017. He is currently pursuing his M.S. degree from both the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) and the MINES ParisTech of PSL University (France). He is involved in studying photoelectric materials and devices, including X-ray detectors and thin-film solar cells, at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics.

E-mail: sxyzzhangmuyi@gmail.com

Chong Wang, a Ph.D. candidate at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), majors in Optical Engineering. He received his Bachelor’s degree from HUST in 2015. His current research interests include novel semiconductor optoelectronic materials and devices.

E-mail: wangchong2015@hust.edu.cn

Dr. Chao Chen received his B.Sc. degree from the School of Physics of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in June 2014. From September 2014 to February 2019, he studied at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology as a doctoral candidate and received his Ph.D. degree in February 2019. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include thin-film solar cells and photodetectors.

E-mail: cchen@mail.hust.edu.cn

Prof. Jiang Tang received his B.Sc. degree (2003) from the University of Science and Technology of China and Ph.D. (2010) from the University of Toronto under the supervision of Prof. Edward Sargent. After one and a half years of postdoctoral research at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, he joined the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as a fulltime professor. His research interests include exploration of new semiconductors for optoelectronic devices. Specifically, he pioneered antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) thin-film solar cells, constructed lead-free halide perovskite X-ray detectors with a low detection limit, and developed stable and efficient white emissive halide perovskites. He has published more than 100 papers in renowned journals, including Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Photonics, Nature Energy, and Nature Communications, and has accumulated more than 9000 citations. He is one of the Executive Editors-in-Chief of Frontiers of Optoelectronics and an Editorial Advisor Board member of Solar RRL. Further, he has delivered more than 50 invited or plenary talks at various international conferences and prestigious universities.

E-mail: jtang@hust.edu.cn

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Zhang, M., Wang, C., Chen, C. et al. Recent progress in the research on using CuSbS2 and its derivative CuPbSbS3 as absorbers in case of photovoltaic devices. Front. Optoelectron. 14, 450–458 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-020-1024-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-020-1024-0

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