Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 19, 2026

Making Record-efficiency SnS Solar Cells by Thermal Evaporation and Atomic Layer Deposition
Published on: May 22, 2015
A Plasma-Triggered O-S Bond and P-N Junction Near the Surface of a SnS2 Nanosheet Array to Enable Efficient Solar
Linxing Meng1, Xiaolong Zhou2, Siyu Wang3
1School of Physical Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Thin Films, Center for Energy Conversion Materials & Physics (CECMP), Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, P. R. China.
Abstract:
A photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell can split water into hydrogen and oxygen with the assistance of solar illumination. However, its application is still limited by excessive bulk carrier recombination and sluggish surface oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics. Taking SnS2 as an example, a promising layered optoelectronic semiconductor, Ar plasma treatment strategy was used to introduce a SnS/SnS2 P-N heterojunction and O-S bond near the surface of a SnS2 nanosheet array, simultaneously increasing the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in the bulk and lowering the OER overpotential at the surface. The onset potential of the plasma-treated SnS2 nanosheet array shifts negatively to 0.16 V, and the photocurrent density at 1.23 V vs. RHE boosts to 2.15 mA cm-2 , which is 7 times that of pristine SnS2 . This work demonstrates a facile plasma treatment strategy to modulate the energy band structure and surface chemical states for improved PEC performance.
Related Concept Videos
14:01Making Record-efficiency SnS Solar Cells by Thermal Evaporation and Atomic Layer Deposition
11:38Experimental Methods for Efficient Solar Hydrogen Production in Microgravity Environment
08:59Dry Oxidation and Vacuum Annealing Treatments for Tuning the Wetting Properties of Carbon Nanotube Arrays
08:30Monovalent Cation Doping of CH3NH3PbI3 for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells
04:35Preparation of Free-Surface Hyperbolic Water Vortices
06:35Implementation of a Hyperbolic Vortex Plasma Reactor for the Removal of Micropollutants in Water

