Synthesis of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Thin Films by a Precursor Solution Paste for Thin Film Solar Cell Applications

Abstract

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a very promising semiconductor material when used for the absorber layer of thin film solar cells because it consists of only abundant and inexpensive elements. In addition, a low-cost solution process is applicable to the preparation of CZTS absorber films, which reduces the cost when this film is used for the production of thin film solar cells. To fabricate solution-processed CZTS thin film using an easily scalable and relatively safe method, we suggest a precursor solution paste coating method with a two-step heating process (oxidation and sulfurization). The synthesized CZTS film was observed to be composed of grains of a size of ~300 nm, showing an overall densely packed morphology with some pores and voids. A solar cell device with this film as an absorber layer showed the highest efficiency of 3.02% with an open circuit voltage of 556 mV, a short current density of 13.5 mA/cm(2), and a fill factor of 40.3%. We also noted the existence of Cd moieties and an inhomogeneous Zn distribution in the CZTS film, which may have been triggered by the presence of pores and voids in the CZTS film.

Electrical and optical properties of CZTS thin films prepared by SILAR method

“…Sudip K. Saha et al prepared CZTS-fullerene hybrid p-n junction solar cells by hot injection method and have reported 0.9% PCE [5]. Jin Woo Cho et al reported the PCE of 3.02% for spin coated CZTS thin films [6]. Subramaniam et al have reported 1.34% PCE for CZTS film deposited by chemical bath deposition method [2].…”

Voltammetry investigation on copper zinc tin sulphide /selenide (CZTSxSe1-x) alloy nanocrystals: Estimation of composition dependent band edge parameters

“…Moreover, fast depletion of indium reservoir is another concern for the sustainable growth [4][5][6]. Due to these reasons more attention has been paid in recent years to the semiconductors, based on less toxic, earth abundant elements such as copper zinc tin sulphide (CZTS) and (CZTSe) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. This films of CZTS and CZTSe are deposited readily by radio frequency (RF) and diode (DC) magnetron sputtering technology and the corresponding solar cells deliver efficiency better than 10% with a good stability [13,14,[16][17][18].…”

Significantly Enhancing Grain Growth in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 Absorber Layers by Insetting Sb2S3, CuSbS2, and NaSb5S8 Thin Films

“…28 More interestingly, Agrawal and co-workers indicated that the use of wurtzite-derived CZTS nanoparticles has the potential to remove the unsintered layer in kesterite CZTSSe solar cells. 29 For the CZTSSe solar cells fabricated by the nanocrystal-based ink method and the non-hydrazine molecular precursor solution approach, there is always a largegrain self-termination problem during the selenization processes, [15][16][17][18]22,23 which will lead to an undesirable smallgrained bottom layer; therefore, it is highly urgent to develop a low-cost and facile approach to overcome the fine-grained layers in selenized CZTSSe films. In this paper, we present a simple and powerful strategy to significantly enhance grain growth in CZTSSe absorber layers by insetting Sb 2 S 3 , CuSbS 2 , and NaSb 5 S 8 thin films.…”