Synthesis and characterization of copper tin sulfide counter electrode for enhanced performance in third-generation solar cells

This paper presents the fabrication of a copper tin sulfide (CTS) counter electrode for application in third-generation solar cells. The fabrication process involved modified chemical bath deposition (M-CBD) or a successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR). Initially, a ZnO seed layer was deposited onto a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate via CBD. Subsequently, a mesoporous layer of ZnO was deposited onto the FTO substrate using the doctor-blade method. The mesoporous ZnO layer was sensitized with CdS nanocrystals deposited using the SILAR method. Various characterization techniques, including UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), were employed to analyze the optical, structural, and morphological properties of the photoanode and CTS counter electrode. The results demonstrate the successful synthesis of a CTS counter electrode with desirable properties for solar-cell applications. The fabricated CTS counter electrode exhibited a conversion efficiency of 0.49%, which was significantly higher than that of carbon-based counter electrodes.