Characterization of single step electrodeposited Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films

Abstract

Electrodeposited copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) thin films grown on conducting glass substrates are investigated in this report. The photoelectrochemical cell (PEC), optical, structural and morphological properties of the deposited films have been characterized. PEC measurements of the CZTS thin film showed p-type electrical conductivity. Optical measurement showed that the transmittance of CZTS films is observed to about 0.5-3.4% in the wavelength range 300-1100 nm. It is also observed that the absorbance of the CZTS thin films rapidly increases in the wavelength range 580-620 nm and then it decreases slowly. The band gap of the CZTS thin film is observed to be in the range 1.6-2.2 eV. The transmittance and band gap decreases upon annealing at different temperatures but the absorbance and the grain size increases due to the improvement of crystalline quality upon annealing. From the X-ray diffraction study, the CZTS films are found to be polycrystalline with ( 112), ( 200), ( 105), ( 204), ( 312), ( 220) orientations of the tetragonal structure. The average crystallite size is estimated to 23 nm for as-deposited film, 26 nm for annealed at 300 °C and 40 nm for annealed at 350 °C. It is found from SEM study that the precursor film shows non-uniform distribution of agglomerated particles with well-defined boundaries. As the annealing temperature increases, the crystallization of the films is observed to improve, and hence the morphology of as-deposited precursor film is observed to change into the larger flat grains upon annealing.

Single step electrochemical deposition for the fabrication of CZTS kesterite thin films for solar cells

“…Researchers move towards cadmium telluride 𝐶𝑑𝑇𝑒 and copper indium gallium selenide 𝐶𝐼𝐺𝑆 based thin-film solar cell materials [2]. Commercially these materials are used for the production of thin film solar cells because of high absorption coefficient > 10 " 𝑐𝑚 #$ , excellent optical and electrical properties and high power conversion efficiency [3,4]. For many decades great effort has been done on the optimization of 𝐶𝐼𝐺𝑆 and 𝐶𝑑𝑇𝑒-based devices.…”

Electrochemical deposition mechanism of copper-zinc-tin alloy and structural characterization

“…However, their development was slackened by the toxicity and the rarity of certain elements, namely indium and gallium [3][4]. Thus, kesterite structure alternatives, Cu2ZnSn (SxSe1-x)4 were proposed: Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) [3,[17][18][19][20][21] and Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) [22][23][24][25][26][27]. These devices have high optical absorption coefficient (10 4 cm -1 ) and band-gap ranging between 0.9 and 1.5 eV, attractive for photovoltaic applications.…”

Elaboration and characterization by electrochemical technique CZTS thin layers for photovoltaic application

“…Researchers move towards cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide based thin-film solar cell materials [35]. Commercially these materials are used for the production of thin film solar cells because of high absorption coefficient > 10 4 −1 , excellent optical and electrical properties and high power conversion efficiency [195,196]. For many decades great effort has been done on the optimization of and -based devices.…”