Hole Transport and Recombination in All-Solid Sb2S3-Sensitized TiO2 Solar Cells Using CuSCN As Hole Transporter

All-solid semiconductor-sensitized solar cells lack models allowing their characterization in terms of the fundamental processes of charge transport and recombination. Nanostructured TiO2/Sb2S3/CuSCN solar cells were characterized by impedance spectroscopy, and a model was proposed for this type of cells. One important feature resulting from this analysis was the hole transport diffusion, which could be assimilated to a series resistance affecting the cell fill factor. The other important feature was the recombination rate, which could be described in a similar manner as other cells using nanostructured TiO2 electrodes and which had an important impact on the open circuit. A simulation of the current-voltage curves using such model allowed us to get an approximate quantification of the losses caused by each process and to evaluate the possible improvements on the performance of this kind of cell.