Preparation and characterization of CuInS<sub>2</sub>nanocrystals for photovoltaic materials

Tapley, Amy; Vaccarello, Daniel; Hedges, Jason B.; Jia, Falong; Love, David A.; Ding, Zhifeng

doi:10.1039/c2cp42753b

Cited by 15 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…One potentially attractive, yet not well-studied, copper-based material is CuFeSe 2 , which represents a well-known class of I-III-VI 2 group ternary chalcogenides. Among the I-III-VI 2 group, such as CuInS 2 [22,23,24], CuInSe 2 [24,25,26], CuInTe 2 [27] and CuFeS 2 [24,28,29,30], materials have attracted extensive attention due to their high absorption coefficient, high conversion efficiency, low toxicity and other physical properties and unique chemical properties and have been explored for the fabrication of photovoltaic solar cells in very recent years. However, among these, less attention been paid to the CuFeSe 2 material, as eskebornite with a narrow band gap of 0.16 eV belongs to the tetragonal structure type [31] and the crystal structure of the CuFeSe 2 has the space group P

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2c with cell parameters a = 5.521 Å and c = 11.04 Å [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

et al. 2017

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Copper-based chalcogenides that contain abundant, low-cost and environmentally-friendly elements, are excellent materials for numerous energy conversion applications, such as photocatalysis, photovoltaics, photoelectricity and thermoelectrics (TE). Here, we present a high-yield and upscalable colloidal synthesis route for the production of monodisperse ternary I-III-VI2 chalcogenides nanocrystals (NCs), particularly stannite CuFeSe2, with uniform shape and narrow size distributions by using selenium powder as the anion precursor and CuCl2·2H2O and FeCl3 as the cationic precursors. The composition, the state of valence, size and morphology of the CuFeSe2 materials were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), respectively. Furthermore, the TE properties characterization of these dense nanomaterials compacted from monodisperse CuFeSe2 NCs by hot press at 623 K were preliminarily studied after ligand removal by means of hydrazine and hexane solution. The TE performances of the sintered CuFeSe2 pellets were characterized in the temperature range from room temperature to 653 K. Finally, the dimensionless TE figure of merit (ZT) of this Earth-abundant and intrinsic p-type CuFeSe2 NCs is significantly increased to 0.22 at 653 K in this work, which is demonstrated to show a promising TE materialand makes it a possible p-type candidate for medium-temperature TE applications.

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\overset{4}{true}

2c with cell parameters a = 5.521 Å and c = 11.04 Å [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

et al. 2017

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“…Our solvothermal process for CZTS production has been shown to be an effective way of fabricating the NCs at low-cost [5,13,14]. The resultant NCs show a high consistency in composition and structure, producing predominantly the ideal kesterite structure with few secondary phases, though the relationship of the starting materials ratio against final compositions is not clear [14,15]. Systematic improvements to the NC quality, the NC films, and ultimately the device efficiency require correlation between the changes made in starting material and the final NC outcome.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling Cu2ZnSnS4 photocatalytic ability through alterations in sulfur availability

et al. 2016

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Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) nanocrystals (NCs) were made via a one-pot solvothermal method with various amounts of available free-sulfur and a fixed amount of sulfur bound to 2-mercapto-5-n-propylpyrimidine (MPP). Varying the sulfur availability yields CZTS NCs of different stoichiomety, from which five distinct samples were analyzed for consistency both microscopically and macroscopically. As revealed by X-ray absorption fine structure investigation, samples fabricated in the presence of decreased free-sulfur showed decreased CZTS character, with sporadic compositions and no long term order; however, when fabricated in the presence of no free-sulfur, sulfur from the degraded MPP was found incorporated into the CZTS structure. These NCs showed improved long-term order over standard synthetic procedure. The catalysis of methyl viologen (MV) from MV 2+ to MV + state by CZTS under light irradiation was used as the probe to test the photovoltaic nature. The photocatalysis was enhanced in the films made from NCs fabricated without available free-sulfur. This enhancement is consistent with the measured band gaps, with more ordered NCs showing a band gap that better matches the most intense regions of the solar spectrum.

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“…12 This produced a material that showed a relatively large photocurrent. Annealing was avoided in an effort to reduce the costs of possible industrial fabrication.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Annealing on the Photoelectrochemical Behavior of CuInS₂Nanocrystal Films

Tapley

Hart

Vaccarello

et al. 2014

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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Photovoltaics based on inorganic thin film absorber layers such as CuInS 2 (CIS) are showing promise in overcoming the increasing energy demand. There are, however, challenges that CIS presents before it can be considered cost effective. A typical synthesis employs a high temperature (∼500 • C) annealing step with a H 2 S atmosphere, which can significantly raise the cost of the photovoltaic devices. In this work we report a relatively low temperature, H 2 S free annealing step (250 • C) that produced a photocurrent enhancement in the CIS nanocrystal film based on the comparison of respective photoelectrochemical measurements. Investigations into the effects of annealing on the morphology, composition, crystallinity and temperature of degradation of the film were carried out. A thin CdS buffer layer can provide photocurrent enhancement of the CIS layer, but it is typically added after annealing because temperatures above 300 • C will degrade optical properties. The low annealing temperature allowed for CIS and the CdS buffer layer to be annealed together, which produced a further photocurrent density enhancement. The combination of a low temperature annealing along with a large photocurrent enhancement of the CIS/CdS bi-layer could help to improve efficiency in the full device fabrication while still keeping costs low.

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Preparation and characterization of CuInS₂nanocrystals for photovoltaic materials

Cited by 15 publications

References 35 publications

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

Controlling Cu2ZnSnS4 photocatalytic ability through alterations in sulfur availability

Effect of Annealing on the Photoelectrochemical Behavior of CuInS₂Nanocrystal Films

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Preparation and characterization of CuInS2nanocrystals for photovoltaic materials

Cited by 15 publications

References 35 publications

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

Colloidal Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of CuFeSe2 Nanocrystals

Controlling Cu2ZnSnS4 photocatalytic ability through alterations in sulfur availability

Effect of Annealing on the Photoelectrochemical Behavior of CuInS2Nanocrystal Films

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Preparation and characterization of CuInS₂nanocrystals for photovoltaic materials

Effect of Annealing on the Photoelectrochemical Behavior of CuInS₂Nanocrystal Films