Copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu2ZnSnS4 or CZTS) is a p-type semiconducting material with high absorption coefficient (104 cm−1) and a band gap of ~1·5 eV. Most of its constituents are earth abundant and are environmentally benign. Therefore, in this work, the authors investigated structural and optical properties of CZTS nanoparticles synthesized by solvothermal method (water (H2O), ethylene glycol (EG)). X-ray diffraction and Raman studies revealed that the CZTS nanoparticles exhibited kesterite structure with preferential orientation along the (112) direction. The crystallite sizes of the nanoparticles were found to vary from 14 nm (water) to 7 nm (EG). Morphological analysis using field emission scanning electron microscope shows that the growth of the particles is controlled using EG as a solvent. It was observed from energy-dispersive X-ray analysis spectra that the composition of the nanoparticles prepared in EG was found to be nearly stoichiometric. The calculated optical band gaps of CZTS nanoparticles were 1·39 and 1·53 eV for water and EG, respectively. The electrical conductivity of the samples was measured and found to be higher for the sample prepared in EG.
In this paper, we report thefabrication of a hetero-junction solar cell using nanocrystallinep-type Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS) as absorber layer and ZnO as buffer layer.The effect of copper ratio on the properties of copper zinc tin sulfide nanoparticles synthesized using solvothermal method and the influence of Cu ratio on the cell efficiencies are also systematically investigated.The structural, optical andelectrical properties of prepared nanoparticles were studied using X-ray powder diffraction, Raman analysis, scanning electron microscopy, UV-vis absorption and J-Vcharacteristic studies.The device fabrication and conversionefficiency of cadmium free CZTS/ZnOsolar cellsare also discussed.The highestpower conversion efficiency of the solar cell was observed to be 3.2% for copper slightly poor (0.9) compositional ratio.
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