Cu2O-Enhanced Back Surface Field Empowers Selenium-Based TiO2/Sb2Se3 Thin Film Solar Cells to Achieve Efficiency over 32%

Antimony (Sb) chalcogenides, particularly antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃), have gained attention as promising semiconductor materials in order to creat and advancement of competitive solar cells. These materials exhibit a range of desirable qualities, such as excellent absorption rate, ability to modify band gap, and plentiful in the crust of the earth. This article describes an antimony selenide (Sb₂Se₃) absorber based high-efficient thin film solar cell (TFSC) with copper oxide (Cu₂O) as as back surface field (BSF) by dint of Al/ITO/TiO₂/Sb₂Se₃/Cu₂O/Ni heterostructure using SCAPS-1D Simulator. This research entails an in-depth assessment of various physical and electrical characteristics of every solar active semiconductorof TiO₂,Sb₂Se₃, and Cu₂O covering the thickness of each layer, concentration of carrier doping, defect density in the bulk and at the interface, carrier generation rate together with recombination. Initially, the variation in photovoltaic parameters of open circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF), power conversion efficiency (PCE), and quantum efficiency (QE) investigated without the BSF layer, followed by a comprehensive analysis on the role of Cu₂O BSF layer for enhancing cell’s performance explored systematically. The proposed heterostructure shows improved PCE of over 32% (which was 21% without BSF) with J_SC of 37.492 mA/cm², V_OC of 1.024 V, and FF of 83.595%. Thus, the utilisation of a heterostructure comprising Sb₂Se₃ absorber and copper oxide Cu₂O BSF layer demonstrates significant promise in the development and production the high-efficiency greenery thin-film solar cells (TFSCs).