Predicting the Degradation and Recovery Trends of the Photovoltaic Efficiency of Sb₂Se₃ Antimony Solar Cells

This study aims to develop empirical models and equations to predict the lifetime degradation and recovery in the energy conversion efficiency emerging Sb2Se3 based antimony solar cells which have been stressed under ambient moisture, sunlight irradiation intensities and temperature conditions. The models are extracted from empirical data reported in literature and is comprised from critical parameters which can fit with the data to elucidate on the stability behavior of antimony chalcogenide solar cells. Several models have been introduced for variation of solar cell efficiency under different irradiation from 1–10 suns and temperature conditions at 30° C, 40° C, and 50° C. The model predicts a saturation trend in degradation of solar cell efficiency which has been also modelled and formulated through empirical formulas. The efficiency degradation trends follow exponentially decreasing trends while the recovery trends show exponentially increasing trend. In contrast, the saturation efficiency follows linear models for prolonged irradiation and temperature stressing conditions. This examination of saturation in degradation and its dependence on environmental factors provides valuable insights into predicting the worst efficiency affected by seasonal changes over extended periods for antimony photovoltaics.