TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparative study of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 nanoparticles for solar cells
T2 - From chemical synthesis to devices
AU - Prabhu, Sudheendra
AU - Pandey, Nivedita
AU - Punetha, Deepak
AU - Chakrabarti, Subhananda
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are thankful to the IIT Bombay Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics for providing synthesis facilities. The authors also would like to thank the Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility (SAIF) at IIT Bombay for providing the access to the FEG-SEM facility, MEMS department, IIT Bombay for the Raman facility, IRCC, IIT Bombay for the XRD facility and CIF at IIT Jammu for providing XPS facility. The authors are grateful to NCPRE, IIT Bombay for providing access to the Solar I-V simulator facility.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Thin-film solar cells using quaternary compounds Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1; CZTSe, CZTSSe, or CZTS) as absorber materials have attracted a lot of attention from the photovoltaic research community. Traditionally, vacuum-based techniques have been used for the synthesis of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 absorbers. In this work, an easy, less toxic, non-vacuum, single-reaction chemical route is used for the synthesis of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (x = 0.0,0.4,1.0) nanoparticles. Using structural characterization techniques, the presence of kesterite phase in the as-synthesised nanoparticles is confirmed. The surface micrographs revealed increase in nanoparticle grain size with the selenium doping and nearly stoichiometric composition with compact morphology of nanoparticles. Further, the optical characterization of as-synthesised nanoparticles exhibited bandgaps in the range 1.52 – 1.02 eV which are optimal for thin film solar cell applications. The fabricated solar cells using synthesised compounds exhibited promising photo response capabilities with a highest efficiency of 0.752% for Cu2ZnSn(S0.4Se0.6)4 absorber-based device under AM1.5 illumination without any buffer layer. Results presented in this work indicate the suitability of the kesterite compounds synthesized through the chemical route as absorber materials for cheap solar cells.
AB - Thin-film solar cells using quaternary compounds Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1; CZTSe, CZTSSe, or CZTS) as absorber materials have attracted a lot of attention from the photovoltaic research community. Traditionally, vacuum-based techniques have been used for the synthesis of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 absorbers. In this work, an easy, less toxic, non-vacuum, single-reaction chemical route is used for the synthesis of Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1−x)4 (x = 0.0,0.4,1.0) nanoparticles. Using structural characterization techniques, the presence of kesterite phase in the as-synthesised nanoparticles is confirmed. The surface micrographs revealed increase in nanoparticle grain size with the selenium doping and nearly stoichiometric composition with compact morphology of nanoparticles. Further, the optical characterization of as-synthesised nanoparticles exhibited bandgaps in the range 1.52 – 1.02 eV which are optimal for thin film solar cell applications. The fabricated solar cells using synthesised compounds exhibited promising photo response capabilities with a highest efficiency of 0.752% for Cu2ZnSn(S0.4Se0.6)4 absorber-based device under AM1.5 illumination without any buffer layer. Results presented in this work indicate the suitability of the kesterite compounds synthesized through the chemical route as absorber materials for cheap solar cells.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2023.106905
DO - 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2023.106905
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85172213320
SN - 2352-4928
VL - 37
JO - Materials Today Communications
JF - Materials Today Communications
M1 - 106905
ER -
