Fabrication of SnS solar cells via facile nanoparticle synthesis based on non-toxic solvents

Abstract

Tin monosulfide (SnS) thin film is one of the most promising absorbers layer for high efficiency solar cells using low cost earth-abundant materials. To fabricate high quality SnS thin films, a simple nanoparticle based approach was employed in this work for phase pure material preparation using non-toxic solvents. Uniform SnS thin films were fabricated via a spin-coating process using phase pure SnS-ORT nanoparticle precursor solutions based on a methanol solvent, followed by post-annealing for grain growth. SnS thin film solar cells were then fabricated and their photovoltaic performance was characterized. The best SnS solar cell fabricated with the asprepared SnS films with a band gap energy of similar to 1.25 eV showed a conversion efficiency of 0.12%.