Interfacial modification strategy by lead chloride post-treatment enables 8.05% efficient Sb2S3 solar cells

Guohuan Shen; Ruiheng Gao; Shiwu Chen; An Ke; Tianjun Ma; Salman Ali; Mingyu Li; Hsien-Yi Hsu; Jiang Tang; Haisheng Song

doi:10.26599/NR.2025.94908031

Interfacial modification strategy by lead chloride post-treatment enables 8.05% efficient Sb₂S₃ solar cells

Guohuan Shen (Co-first Author)
, Ruiheng Gao (Co-first Author)
, Shiwu Chen
, An Ke
, Tianjun Ma
, Salman Ali
, Mingyu Li
, Hsien-Yi Hsu
, Jiang Tang
, Haisheng Song^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

4 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Antimony sulfide (Sb₂S₃ ) is a competitive photovoltaic material, especially for tandem solar cells. However, the quasi-intrinsic carrier concentration and deep work function of Sb₂S₃ cause serious extraction problem at Sb₂S₃ /hole-transport-layer (HTL) interface. In this study, we proposed an efficient strategy to modify the Sb₂S₃ /HTL interface by lead chloride (PbCl₂) post-treatment. Our results demonstrated that Cl incorporation could passivate the defect of sulfur vacancy (V_S) and antisite (Sb_S), and Pb enabled effective p-type doping at the Sb₂S₃ interface with the Cl help of V_S removal. The synergistic effect of Pb and Cl elements matched well with HTL energy level, facilitated hole extraction and enhanced the interface conductivity. By employing PbCl₂treatment, the resulting devices obtained a high fill factor (FF) of 66.02%, and a top power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.05%. This work provides valuable insights into improving the Sb₂S₃ interface for enhancing solar cell performance.
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Tsinghua University Press.

Original language	English
Article number	94908031
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nano Research
Volume	18
Issue number	10
Online published	25 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2025.94908031
Publication status	Published - Oct 2025

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62374065), the Interdisciplinary Research Promotion of HUST (No. 2023JCYJ040), Project for Building a Science and Technology Innovation Center Facing South Asia and Southeast Asia (No. 202403AP140015), and the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory (No. OVL2024BB017). The authors thank Testing Center of HUST and the Center for Nanoscale Characterization & Devices (CNCD), WNLO-HUST for facility access.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

antimony sulfide
solar cells
interfacial modification
hole extraction

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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title = "Interfacial modification strategy by lead chloride post-treatment enables 8.05\% efficient Sb2S3 solar cells",

abstract = "Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3 ) is a competitive photovoltaic material, especially for tandem solar cells. However, the quasi-intrinsic carrier concentration and deep work function of Sb2S3 cause serious extraction problem at Sb2S3 /hole-transport-layer (HTL) interface. In this study, we proposed an efficient strategy to modify the Sb2S3 /HTL interface by lead chloride (PbCl2) post-treatment. Our results demonstrated that Cl incorporation could passivate the defect of sulfur vacancy (VS) and antisite (SbS), and Pb enabled effective p-type doping at the Sb2S3 interface with the Cl help of VS removal. The synergistic effect of Pb and Cl elements matched well with HTL energy level, facilitated hole extraction and enhanced the interface conductivity. By employing PbCl2 treatment, the resulting devices obtained a high fill factor (FF) of 66.02\%, and a top power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.05\%. This work provides valuable insights into improving the Sb2S3 interface for enhancing solar cell performance. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025. Published by Tsinghua University Press.",

keywords = "antimony sulfide, solar cells, interfacial modification, hole extraction",

author = "Guohuan Shen and Ruiheng Gao and Shiwu Chen and An Ke and Tianjun Ma and Salman Ali and Mingyu Li and Hsien-Yi Hsu and Jiang Tang and Haisheng Song",

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doi = "10.26599/NR.2025.94908031",

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T1 - Interfacial modification strategy by lead chloride post-treatment enables 8.05% efficient Sb2S3 solar cells

AU - Shen, Guohuan

AU - Gao, Ruiheng

AU - Chen, Shiwu

AU - Ke, An

AU - Ma, Tianjun

AU - Ali, Salman

AU - Li, Mingyu

AU - Hsu, Hsien-Yi

AU - Tang, Jiang

AU - Song, Haisheng

PY - 2025/10

Y1 - 2025/10

N2 - Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3 ) is a competitive photovoltaic material, especially for tandem solar cells. However, the quasi-intrinsic carrier concentration and deep work function of Sb2S3 cause serious extraction problem at Sb2S3 /hole-transport-layer (HTL) interface. In this study, we proposed an efficient strategy to modify the Sb2S3 /HTL interface by lead chloride (PbCl2) post-treatment. Our results demonstrated that Cl incorporation could passivate the defect of sulfur vacancy (VS) and antisite (SbS), and Pb enabled effective p-type doping at the Sb2S3 interface with the Cl help of VS removal. The synergistic effect of Pb and Cl elements matched well with HTL energy level, facilitated hole extraction and enhanced the interface conductivity. By employing PbCl2 treatment, the resulting devices obtained a high fill factor (FF) of 66.02%, and a top power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.05%. This work provides valuable insights into improving the Sb2S3 interface for enhancing solar cell performance. © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Tsinghua University Press.

AB - Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3 ) is a competitive photovoltaic material, especially for tandem solar cells. However, the quasi-intrinsic carrier concentration and deep work function of Sb2S3 cause serious extraction problem at Sb2S3 /hole-transport-layer (HTL) interface. In this study, we proposed an efficient strategy to modify the Sb2S3 /HTL interface by lead chloride (PbCl2) post-treatment. Our results demonstrated that Cl incorporation could passivate the defect of sulfur vacancy (VS) and antisite (SbS), and Pb enabled effective p-type doping at the Sb2S3 interface with the Cl help of VS removal. The synergistic effect of Pb and Cl elements matched well with HTL energy level, facilitated hole extraction and enhanced the interface conductivity. By employing PbCl2 treatment, the resulting devices obtained a high fill factor (FF) of 66.02%, and a top power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.05%. This work provides valuable insights into improving the Sb2S3 interface for enhancing solar cell performance. © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Tsinghua University Press.

KW - antimony sulfide

KW - solar cells

KW - interfacial modification

KW - hole extraction

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U2 - 10.26599/NR.2025.94908031

DO - 10.26599/NR.2025.94908031

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

SN - 1998-0124

VL - 18

JO - Nano Research

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