Among various candidate materials, Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a promising earth-abundant semiconductor for low-cost thin film solar cells. We report a facile, less toxic, highly concentrated synthetic method utilizing the heretofore unrecognized, easily decomposable capping ligand of triphenylphosphate, where phase-pure, single-crystalline, and well-dispersed colloidal CZTS nanocrystals were obtained....

The collaboration between Sharp Laboratories of America (SLA), Oregon State University (OSU) and ORNL focused on low thermal budget pulse thermal processing (PTP) technique to develop high performance copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) thin film system for advanced photovoltaic (PV) applications, with the goal to develop novel fabrication processes for the manufacture of low-cost, high-performance ...

This work characterizes defects and phases within Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTS(Se)), an earth-abundant material used to make thin film photovoltaic solar cells. Overall research efforts focus on improving the solar cell device efficiency with the hope that it can be produced at the terawatt energy scale and circumvent material supply bottlenecks of current thin film photovoltaic technology. In this wor...

A quaternary indium- and gallium-free kesterite (KS)-based compound, copper zinc tin sulfide (Cu2ZnSnS4, CZTS), has received significant attention for its potential applications in low cost and sustainable solar cells. It is well known that the reaction time, reactivity of the precursors, and types of capping ligands used during the synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) strongly influence t...

Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) semiconductor has been demonstrated to be a promising alternative absorber in thin film solar cell in virtue of its earth-abundant, non-toxic element, suitable optical and electrical properties. Herein, a low-cost and non-toxic method that based on the thermal decomposition and reaction of metal-thiourea-oxygen sol-gel complexes to synthesize CZTS thin film was develo...

We have performed a rigorous investigation of the structure and composition of individual grains in copper-zinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS) films realized by sulfurization of a sputtered metal stack. Although on average close to the ideal CZTS stoichiometry, elemental analysis shows significant grain-to-grain variations in composition. High-resolution Raman spectroscopy indicates that this is accompanie...

Starting with metal dithiocarbamate complexes, we synthesize colloidal Cu(2)ZnSnS(4) (CZTS) nanocrystals with diameters ranging from 2 to 7 nm. Structural and Raman scattering data confirm that CZTS is obtained rather than other possible material phases. The optical absorption spectra of nanocrystals with diameters less than 3 nm show a shift to higher energy due to quantum confinement.

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films were prepared by directly sputteringCu (In,Ga)Se2 quaternary target consisting of (Cu: 25%, Zn: 12.5%, Sn; 12.5%and S: 50%). The composition and structure of CZTS layers have beeninvestigated after annealing at 200 0C, 350 0C and 500 0C under vacuum. Theresults show that recrystallization of the CZTS thin film occurs and increasingthe grain size with a preferred orie...

The present work demonstrates a systematic approach for the synthesis of pure kesterite-phase Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanocrystals with a uniform size distribution by a one-step, thioglycolic acid (TGA)-assisted hydrothermal route. The formation mechanism and the role of TGA in the formation of CZTS compound were thoroughly studied. It has been found that TGA interacted with Cu(2+) to form Cu(+) at th...

Cu2ZnSnS4, based on abundant and environmental friendly elements and with a direct band gap of 1.5 eV, is a main candidate material for solar energy conversion through both photovoltaics and photocatalysis. We detail here the synthesis of quasi-spherical Cu2ZnSnS4 nanoparticles with unprecedented narrow size distributions. We further detail their use as seeds to produce CZTS-Au and CZTS-Pt hete...