Advances on Sb₂Se₃ Solar Cells Fabricated by Physical Vapor Deposition Techniques

Sb2Se3, as an earth-abundant and low-toxic material, has emerged as one of the most interesting absorbers for clean renewable power generation technologies. Due to its optical properties, especially bandgap and absorption coefficient, the number of papers on Sb2Se3-based solar cells has been constantly increasing in the last ten years, and its power conversion efficiency has raised from 1% in 2014 to 10.57% in 2022. In this review, different Sb2Se3 solar cells’ fabrication technologies based on physical vapor deposition are described and correlated to the texture coefficient (ribbon orientation). Moreover, recent research works of the most promising solar cell configurations with different electron-transporting layers and hole-transporting layers are analyzed with a special emphasis on photovoltaic performances. Furthermore, different Sb2Se3 doping techniques are discussed. All these aspects are considered as new strategies to overcome the Sb2Se3 solar cell’s actual limitations.