Comprehensive physicochemical and photovoltaic analysis of different Zn substitutes (Mn, Mg, Fe, Ni, Co, Ba, Sr) in CZTS-inspired thin film solar cells

Abstract

The relatively stagnant efficiency of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) kesterite thin film solar cell has led to the exploration of alternative materials based on kesterite structure. The unavoidable formation of Cu-Zn disorder...

Emergence of flexible kesterite solar cells: progress and perspectives

“…At current state, CZTSSe seems very forgiving to various metal impurities. The isovalent metal elements are theoretically predicted to be favourable or benign, like Ag 87 , Cd 88 , Ge 26,40 , and some transition metal elements even like Mn, Ni, Co, Fe are reported to be benign to CZTSSe [89][90][91] . However, this may be only valid when the baseline efficiency is relatively low, possibly because there are too many deep intrinsic defects dominating the recombination process in these solar cells.…”

Regulating charge carrier recombination in Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cells via cesium treatment: bulk and interface effects

“…Endowed with incomparable cost advantages and outstanding optical-electronic properties, kesterite-based Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) solar cells have experienced impressive advancements in the photovoltaic eld. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Through optimization of materials and device architecture, the state-of-art kesterite-based CZTSSe photovoltaic devices have made a remarkable breakthrough with a certication efficiency of 13.6% due to unremitting efforts over the past few years. 8 Although tremendous progress has been made, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the CZTSSe solar cells still lags behind that of its predecessor, that is, Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) 9,10 and cadmium telluride (CdTe), 11,12 primarily due to the serious open-circuit voltage (V OC ) loss triggered by defect-related charge carrier recombination, [13][14][15][16][17] directly threatening further advancements in the nal device performance.…”

Enhancing the efficiency of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4solar cells by variable-temperature sulfoselenization

“…As a result, numerous research groups are dedicated to reducing CZTSSe defects by using +1-valent cations (Ag, Li) and +2-valent cations (Cd, Mn) to replace part of the Cu and Zn, which can suppress Cu/Zn disorders and reduce Cu/Zn defects. [5][6][7] Furthermore, doping with +3-valent cations reduces the Zn-and Sn-related defects, whereas doping with +4-valent cations reduces the Sn-related deep-level defects. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] These methods have indeed improved the efficiency, but the highest efficiency of the CZTSSe device at present is still less than 15% for commercial applications.…”