The Research and Postgraduate Centre congratulates Prof. Zheng Jin-Cheng (corresponding author), the Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, for the recent research article on SnS thin film solar cells published in Renewable Energy, a SCI Q1 journal with an impact factor of 9.
The article, titled “A systematic study on the optical properties and photovoltaic performance of SnS solar cells using Bethe-Salpeter equation and device simulation” made a systematic study on the optical properties and photovoltaic performance of SnS solar cells by using first-principles calculations with device simulations. The optical properties of SnS are studied employing the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) combined with the GW approximation systematically. The BSE dielectric functions and absorption coefficients are generally in good agreement with experiments.
Based on the BSE absorption coefficient and experimental absorption coefficient of SnS, the photovoltaic performance of SnS solar cells was simulated using detailed balance model and AMPS software. The best efficiencies are 31.7 % and 15.9 % for the detailed balance model and AMPS simulation, respectively. The optimum total thickness of SnS absorber layers is 700–1000 nm using AMPS. It is obvious that the efficiency, Voc, Jsc, and FF decrease with increasing deep level concentration and capture cross section. Based on the simulation results, it could be concluded that the improvement of SnS crystal quality (especially, minority-carrier lifetime and carrier mobility) and device transport properties are crucial to further improve the performance of SnS solar cells.
This is a collaborative work led by research groups of Assoc. Prof. Shuo Lin at Minnan Normal University, Assoc. Prof. Tie-Yu Lü at Xiamen University (main campus) and Prof. Zheng Jin-Cheng at Xiamen University (main campus) & Xiamen University Malaysia.
Full article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2025.123522