Effect of Sulfur Precursors on Crystallographic, Optical, and Electrical Properties of Cu2SnS3 Nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study, the synthesis of Cu2SnS3 (CTS) nanoparticles by solvothermal method using different sulfur precursors is reported. The influence of sulfur precursors on the structure, optical and electrical properties of prepared CTS material is investigated. The sulfur precursor sources have showed a noticeable effect on crystallite size, secondary phases, and resulted CTS nanoparticles structure. Among the four sulfur precursor sources used in this study, thiourea is the only sulfur source that produces CTS with a cubic structure and without the need for thermal treatment. Whereas after sulfurization at 580 ºC, all the four samples attained CTS nanoparticles with diverse properties. Changing the sulfur precursors have clear effects on crystallite size and optical bandgap prepared samples as they ranged from 11.21 to 21.23 nm and from 1.4 to 1.7 eV, respectively. Additionally, Hall effect measurement revealed that all CTS samples are p-type semiconductors with bulk carrier concentrations in 1018 order, which is suitable for various optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaics and photodetectors.