Structural and Optical Characterization of Mechanochemically Synthesized CuSbS2 Compounds

Abstract

One of the areas of research on materials for thin-film solar cells focuses on replacing In and Ga with more earth-abundant elements. In that respect, chalcostibite (CuSbS2) is being considered as a promising environmentally friendly and cost-effective photovoltaic absorber material. In the present work, single CuSbS2 phase was synthesized directly by a short-duration (2 h) mechanochemical-synthesis step starting from mixtures of elemental powders. X-ray diffraction analysis of the synthesized CuSbS2 powders revealed a good agreement with the orthorhombic chalcostibite phase, space group Pnma, and a crystallite size of 26 nm. Particle-size characterization revealed a multimodal distribution with a median diameter ranging from of 2.93 μm to 3.10 μm. The thermal stability of the synthesized CuSbS2 powders was evaluated by thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis. No phase change was observed by heat-treating the mechanochemically synthesized powders at 350 °C for 24 h. By UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy the optical band gap was determined to be 1.41 eV, suggesting that the mechanochemically synthesized CuSbS2 can be considered suitable to be used as absorber materials. Overall, the results show that the mechanochemical process is a viable route for the synthesis of materials for photovoltaic applications.

Thermoelectric Chalcostibite: Solid-State Synthesis and Thermal Properties

“…However, tetrahedrite exhibited a lower thermal conductivity than skinnerite because of the additional phonon scatterings caused by the Cu atoms of the triangular CuS 3 bonds in Cu 12 Sb 4 S 13 . Skinnerite and tetrahedrite had lower thermal conductivities than famatinite, and no significant change was observed in their thermal conductivity with increasing temperature[16,23].…”

Influence of sulfur source on properties of CuSbS2 particles

“…There are lots of technologies to prepare CuSbS 2 particles, such as hydrothermal method [3], solvothermal method [4], mechanochemically method [5] and so on. Among them, microwave irradiation method with lowcost, rapid reaction and safety is an ideal method.…”