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P-type conductivity in Sn-doped Sb2Se3

Hobson, TDC; Shiel, H; Savory, CN; Swallow, JEN; Jones, LAH; Featherstone, TJ; Smiles, MJ; ... Major, JD; + view all (2022) P-type conductivity in Sn-doped Sb2Se3. JPhys Energy , 4 (4) , Article 045006. 10.1088/2515-7655/ac91a6. Green open access

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Abstract

Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) is a promising absorber material for thin-film photovoltaics. However, certain areas of fundamental understanding of this material remain incomplete and this presents a barrier to further efficiency gains. In particular, recent studies have highlighted the role of majority carrier type and extrinsic doping in drastically changing the performance of high efficiency devices (Hobson et al 2020 Chem. Mater. 32 2621-30). Herein, Sn-doped Sb2Se3 bulk crystals are shown to exhibit p-type conductivity using Hall effect and hot-probe measurements. The measured conductivities are higher than those achieved through native defects alone, but with a carrier density (up to 7.4 × 1014 cm-3) several orders of magnitude smaller than the quantity of Sn included in the source material. Additionally, a combination of ultraviolet, X-ray and hard X-ray photoemission spectroscopies are employed to obtain a non-destructive depth profile of the valence band maximum, confirming p-type conductivity and indicating a majority carrier type inversion layer at the surface. Finally, these results are supported by density functional theory calculations of the defect formation energies in Sn-doped Sb2Se3, showing a possible limit on the carrier concentration achievable with Sn as a dopant. This study sheds light on the effectiveness of Sn as a p-type dopant in Sb2Se3 and highlights avenues for further optimisation of doped Sb2Se3 for solar energy devices.

Type: Article
Title: P-type conductivity in Sn-doped Sb2Se3
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1088/2515-7655/ac91a6
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7655/ac91a6
Language: English
Additional information: Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Keywords: Sb2Se3, inversion layer, doping, photovoltaics, crystals, chalcogenides, x-ray photoemission
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10158057
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