Photovoltaic properties of nanocrystalline SnSe–CdS

• Solar cells with earth abundant absorber SnSe.
• SnSe is fabricated by electrodeposition technique.
• Highly uniform, pin-hole free SnSe films.
• Solar cells exhibited power conversion efficiency of 0.8% in solid state and 1.5% in liquid junction configuration.

We report for the first time, a high performance photovoltaic cell utilizing earth abundant absorber SnSe, fabricated in thin film form by electrodeposition technique. A solid state device fabricated using CdS as window layer exhibited 0.8% efficiency while using a polysulfide electrolyte in presence of platinum counter electrode exhibited 1.4% solar to electric power conversion efficiency.