n-Ga2O3/p-SnS heterojunction thin-films based transparent photovoltaic device

Abstract

Due to the urgent requirement of transparent photovoltaics (TPVs) for building integrated applications, solar-blind photodetectors, and high-power devices, the immediate necessity is to develop solar cells with high transparency and good photovoltaic performance. The wide bandgap Ga2O3 has attracted significant attention for its excellent optoelectrical properties; however, the role of Ga2O3 in inorganic TPV is least explored yet. The wide bandgap Ga2O3 may give the device high optical transmittance in the UV to the NIR region by absorbing harmful UV radiations. Herein, we propose and study a novel, eco-friendly sputtergrown p-n heterojunction thin-films device by utilizing n-Ga2O3 and p-SnS for TPVs applications. The Ga2O3/SnS heterojunction device is tested for the transparent light harvester, and its photovoltaic performance is improved using variation in Ga2O3 layer thickness. All fabricated devices demonstrated optical transmittance of similar to 70 +/- 2 % in the near-infrared (NIR) region and similar to 50 +/- 2 % in the visible light region. By optimizing the layer thickness of Ga2O3 thin-film, the Ga2O3/SnS heterojunction quality was significantly improved and achieved a high photocurrent density of 1.15 mA/cm(2) and the open-circuit voltage of 527 mV. Our fabricated device showed a power conversion efficiency of 2.9 % under UV light illumination. Furthermore, the proposed transparent photoelectric device exhibited an excellent photovoltaic effect, confirming the potential applications of the Ga2O3/SnS heterojunction for advanced optoelectronics. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.