Study on the physical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films deposited by pneumatic spray pyrolysis technique
Vol 4, Issue 1, 2021
VIEWS - 1412 (Abstract) 207 (PDF)
Abstract
The acquisition of new materials for the manufacturing of high efficiency and low-cost photovoltaic devices has currently become a challenge. Thin films of CuInGaSe and CdTe have been widely used in solar cell of second generation, achieving efficiencies about 20 %; however, the low abundance of In and Te as well as the toxicity of Cd is the primary obstacles to their industrial production. Compounds such as Cu2ZnSnS4, Cu2ZnSnSe4 and Cu2ZnSn(SSe)4 have emerged as an important and less costly alternative for efficient energy conversion in the future. In addition, these compounds have the required characteristics to be used as an absorber material in solar cells (band-gap close to 1.4 eV, an absorption coefficient greater than 104 cm-1 and a p-type conductivity). In this work, we present a study of the structural, compositional, morphological and optical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique as well as their dependence on temperature.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
1. Green MA, Emery K, Hishikawa Y, et al. Solar cell efficiency tables (version 43). Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications 2013; 22(1): 1–9.
2. Lee YS, Gershon T, Gunawan O, et al. Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin-film solar cells by thermal co-evaporation with 11.6% efficiency and improved minority carrier diffusion length. Advanced Energy Materials 2014; 5(7): 1401372.
3. Gunawan O, Todorov TK, Mitzi DB. Loss mechanisms in hydrazine-processed Cu2ZnSn(Se, S)4 solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2010; 97(23): 233506.
4. Siebentritt S. Why are kesterite solar cells not 20% efficient? Thin Solid Films 2013; 535: 1–4.
5. Gokmen T, Gunawan O, Todorov TK, et al. Band tailing and efficiency limitation in kesterite solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2013; 103: 103506.
6. Polizzotti A, Repins IL, Noufi R, et al. The state and future prospects of kesterite photovoltaics. Energy & Environmental Science 2013; 6: 3171–3182.
7. Tanaka T, Kawasaki D, Nishio M, et al. Fabrication of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films by co-evaporation. Physical Status Solidi (C) 2006; 3(8): 2844–2847.
8. Babu GS, Kumar YBK, Bhaskar PU, et al. Effect of Cu/(Zn+ Sn) ratio on the properties of co-evaporated Cu2ZnSnSe4 thin films. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2010; 94: 221–226.
9. Fairbrother A, Fontané X, Izquierdo-Roca V, et al. Single-step sulfo-selenization method to synthesize Cu2ZnSn(SySe1−y)4 absorbers from metallic stack precursors. ChemPhysChem 2013; 14(9): 1836–1843.
10. Katagiri H, Jimbo K, Shwe Maw WIN, et al. Development of CZTS based thin film solar cells. Thin Solid Films 2009; 517(7): 2455–2460.
11. Zhou Z, Wang Y, Xu D, et al. Fabrication of Cu2ZnSnS4 screen printed layers for solar cells. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2010; 94: 2042–2045.
12. Moritake N, Fukui Y, Oonuki M, et al. Preparation of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells under non-vacuum condition. Physica Status Solidi C 2009; 6: 1233–1236.
13. Scragg JJ, Dale PJ, Peter LM, et al. New routes to sustainable photovoltaics: evaluation of Cu2ZnSnS4 as an alternative absorber material. Physica Status Solidi B 2008; 245(9): 1772–1778.
14. Moriya K, Watabe J, Tanaka K, et al. Characterization of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films prepared by photo-chemical deposition. Physica Status Solidi C 2006; 3(8): 2848–2852.
15. Courel M, Valencia-Resendiz E, Pulgarín-Agudelo FA, et al. Determination of minority carrier diffusion length of sprayed-Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films. Solid State Electron 2016; 118: 1–3.
16. Courel M, Valencia-Resendiz E, Arvizu JA, et al. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2017; 159: 151–158.
17. Courel M, Andrade-Arvizu JA, Guillén-Cervantes A, et al. Optimization of physical properties of spray-deposited Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films for solar cell applications. Materials & Design 2017; 114: 515–520.
18. Nakayama N, Ito K. Sprayed films of stannite Cu2ZnSnS4. Applied Surface Science 1996; 92: 171–175.
19. Kamoun N, Bouzouita H. Fabrication and characterization of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique. Thin Solid Films 2007; 515: 5949–5952.
20. Madarász J, Bombicz P, Okuya M, et al. Thermal decomposition of thiourea complexes of Cu(I), Zn(II), and Sn(II) chlorides as precursors for the spray pyrolysis deposition of sulfide thin films. Solid State Ionics 2001; 141-142: 439–446.
21. Katagiri H, Jimbo K, Tahara M, et al. The influence of the composition ratio on CZTS-based thin film solar cells. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 2009; 1165: M01–M04.
22. Courel M, Picquart M, Arce-Plaza A, et al. Study on the impact of stoichiometric and optimal compositional ratios on physical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis. Materials Research Express 2018; 5: 015513.
23. Vigil-Galan O, Courel M, Espindola-Rodriguez M, et al. Toward a high Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell efficiency processed by spray pyrolysis method. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy 2013; 5: 053137.
24. Kumar YBK, Bhaskar PU, Babu GS, et al. Effect of copper salt and thiourea concentrations on the formation of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films by spray pyrolysis. Physica Status Solidi (A) 2010; 207 (1): 149–156.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/ace.v4i1.652
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.