Amorphous selenium-alloyed TeOx thin-film solar cells
Abstract
Tellurium dioxide (TeO2) is a wide-bandgap oxide with attractive processing versatility and emerging p-type semiconducting behaviour, making it a promising material system for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. However, TeO2-derived thin films prepared by scalable manufacturing processes, such as vacuum sublimation, can contain residual metallic Te0 species that introduce trap states, limit hole transport, and promote carrier recombination. Here, we demonstrate a selenium alloying strategy to control the defect chemistry of vacuum-sublimed TeOx films. TeO2:Se powder mixtures (90:10~wt\%) were thermally evaporated and subsequently annealed in air at 225~∘C for up to 9~h, yielding amorphous TeOx:Se films with an optical bandgap of 0.98~eV under optimised conditions. Structural, chemical, optical, and electrical analyses show that prolonged annealing promotes Se redistribution, suppresses residual Te0 to approximately 0.4\%, reduces the film's surface roughness, and shifts the valence-band edge. To evaluate the potential of TeOx:Se for photovoltaic applications, we fabricated thin-film solar cells with an ITO/ZnO/TeOx:Se/MoOx/Ag architecture. Devices based on an 80~nm TeOx:Se active layer annealed for 9~h exhibit optimal performance, with broadband photocurrent generation from 300 to 1000~nm, yielding an open-circuit voltage of 0.50~V, a short-circuit current density of 8.50~mA~cm−2, a fill factor of 0.44, and a maximum power conversion efficiency of approximately 1.87\%. These results establish selenium-alloyed TeOx as a viable oxide-derived absorber for thin-film photovoltaics and highlight chemical-state control as an effective route for improving photovoltaic performance.
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BibTeX
@misc{ling2026amorphous,
title = {{Amorphous selenium-alloyed TeOx thin-film solar cells}},
author = {Zhaoheng Ling and Linqu Luo and Chrysa Aivalioti and Temur Maksudov and Mengxi Zhang and Theodoulos Kalogerakis and Lazaros Panagiotidis and Elefterios Lidorikis and Spyros Doukas and Nikolaos Kalfagiannis and Epameinondas Tziortzios and Leonidas Tsetseris and Huihui Zhu and Ao Liu and Yong-Young Noh and Martin Heeney and Shadi Fatayer and Thomas D. Anthopoulos},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.38643},
eprint = {2610.38643},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.38643},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Amorphous selenium-alloyed TeOx thin-film solar cells
AU - Zhaoheng Ling
AU - Linqu Luo
AU - Chrysa Aivalioti
AU - Temur Maksudov
AU - Mengxi Zhang
AU - Theodoulos Kalogerakis
AU - Lazaros Panagiotidis
AU - Elefterios Lidorikis
AU - Spyros Doukas
AU - Nikolaos Kalfagiannis
AU - Epameinondas Tziortzios
AU - Leonidas Tsetseris
AU - Huihui Zhu
AU - Ao Liu
AU - Yong-Young Noh
AU - Martin Heeney
AU - Shadi Fatayer
AU - Thomas D. Anthopoulos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.38643
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.38643
AB - Tellurium dioxide (TeO_2) is a wide-bandgap oxide with attractive processing versatility and emerging p-type semiconducting behaviour, making it a promising material system for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. However, TeO_2-derived thin films prepared by scalable manufacturing processes, such as vacuum sublimation, can contain residual metallic Te^0 species that introduce trap states, limit hole transport, and promote carrier recombination. Here, we demonstrate a selenium alloying strategy to control the defect chemistry of vacuum-sublimed TeO_x films. TeO_2:Se powder mixtures (90:10~wt\%) were thermally evaporated and subsequently annealed in air at 225~^∘C for up to 9~h, yielding amorphous TeO_x:Se films with an optical bandgap of 0.98~eV under optimised conditions. Structural, chemical, optical, and electrical analyses show that prolonged annealing promotes Se redistribution, suppresses residual Te^0 to approximately 0.4\%, reduces the film's surface roughness, and shifts the valence-band edge. To evaluate the potential of TeO_x:Se for photovoltaic applications, we fabricated thin-film solar cells with an ITO/ZnO/TeO_x:Se/MoO_x/Ag architecture. Devices based on an 80~nm TeO_x:Se active layer annealed for 9~h exhibit optimal performance, with broadband photocurrent generation from 300 to 1000~nm, yielding an open-circuit voltage of 0.50~V, a short-circuit current density of 8.50~mA~cm^−2, a fill factor of 0.44, and a maximum power conversion efficiency of approximately 1.87\%. These results establish selenium-alloyed TeO_x as a viable oxide-derived absorber for thin-film photovoltaics and highlight chemical-state control as an effective route for improving photovoltaic performance.
ER -