One-Step Hydrothermal Deposition of AgSbSSe Thin Films for Solar Cell Applications.

AgSbSSe is a promising light-harvesting material for thin film solar cells, characterized by nontoxicity, high chemical stability, and excellent optoelectronic properties. However, the complex chemical composition of AgSbSSe poses significant challenges to thin film preparation, giving rise to an intensive dependence on multi-step preparation methods. Herein, a hydrothermal method is developed for depositing AgSbSSe films and achieves one-step preparation of this kind of thin film materials for the first time. This method can provide sufficient energy for atomic nucleation and adsorption on the substrate surface to promote nuclei aggregation and grow into films. Meanwhile, it achieves control of the chemical kinetics of the deposition solution by introducing EDTA-2Na as an additive and suppressing the enrichment of AgSe impurities at the substrate interface. As a result, a high-purity AgSbSSe film with compact and flat morphology is prepared and assembled into solar cells. The device delivers a power conversion efficiency of 3.04% under standard illumination, which is currently the highest efficiency for AgSbSSe solar cells fabricated by the one-step method. This study provides a facile and promising method for the controllable preparation of high-quality AgSbSSe thin films and promoting their application in solar cells.