Electrodeposition and selenization of brass/tin/germanium multilayers for Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)Se4 thin film photovoltaic devices

Clauwaert, Kwinten; Goossens, Maaike; Wild, Jessica de; Colombara, Diego; Dale, Phillip J.; Binnemans, Koen; Matthijs, Edward; Fransaer, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2016.03.048

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…To electrodeposit Ge thin films in aqueous or nonaqueous electrolytes is extremely difficult, because of the poor solubility of Ge-based salts and/or harsh electrodeposition conditions. 27,28 Therefore, it is inadvisable to obtain Ge films through the electrodeposition process. Furthermore, Ge is generally introduced by thermal evaporation, magnetron sputtering, or an organic solvent-based solution process, but with high-standard equipment and under rigorous conditions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GeSe-evoked synchronous strategy for electrodeposited CZGSe solar cells

et al. 2023

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GeSe-evoked synchronous strategy for electrodeposited CZGSe solar cells

et al. 2023

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“…In past years, many efforts have been taken to investigate the influence of Ge‐incorporation on the device performance of kesterite thin film solar cells . In 2012, Guo et al obtained an 8.4%‐efficient CZTGeSSe solar cell with Ge/(Ge+Sn) = 0.17 by a nanoparticle based method with Ge contained precursor .…”

Section: Optimizing the Bandgap Of Absorber And Engineering Its Bandgmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Extensive studies on Cu 2 Zn(Sn 1– x Ge x )Se 4 thin films were also conducted by other methods, such as electrochemical deposition (ED), pulse laser deposition (PLD), hot injection, and chemical spray pyrolysis . The bandgap of Cu 2 Zn(Sn 1– x Ge x )(S,Se) 4 thin film can be tuned by controlling the ratio of Ge/(Ge+Sn) in the precursors.…”

Section: Optimizing the Bandgap Of Absorber And Engineering Its Bandgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cation Substitution in Earth‐Abundant Kesterite Photovoltaic Materials

et al. 2018

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As a promising candidate for low‐cost and environmentally friendly thin‐film photovoltaics, the emerging kesterite‐based Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) solar cells have experienced rapid advances over the past decade. However, the record efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells (12.6%) is still significantly lower than those of its predecessors Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) and CdTe thin‐film solar cells. This record has remained for several years. The main obstacle for this stagnation is unanimously attributed to the large open‐circuit voltage (V OC) deficit. In addition to cation disordering and the associated band tailing, unpassivated interface defects and undesirable energy band alignment are two other culprits that account for the large V OC deficit in kesterite solar cells. To capture the great potential of kesterite solar cells as prospective earth‐abundant photovoltaic technology, current research focuses on cation substitution for CZTSSe‐based materials. The aim here is to examine recent efforts to overcome the V OC limit of kesterite solar cells by cation substitution and to further illuminate several emerging prospective strategies, including: i) suppressing the cation disordering by distant isoelectronic cation substitution, ii) optimizing the junction band alignment and constructing a graded bandgap in absorber, and iii) engineering the interface defects and enhancing the junction band bending.

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“…The synthesis of Ge-alloyed kesterite films has also been explored for higher bandgap using multilayer electrodeposition [102]. In this work brass/tin/germanium stacks were prepared, using pyrophosphate electrolytes for brass and tin electrodeposition and an organic electrolyte for Ge electrodeposition.…”

Section: Multiple Layer Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution-based synthesis of kesterite thin film semiconductors

Todorov¹,

Hillhouse

Aazou

et al. 2020

J. Phys. Energy

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Large-scale deployment of photovoltaic modules is required to power our renewable energy future. Kesterite, Cu 2 ZnSn(S, Se) 4 , is a p-type semiconductor absorber layer with a tunable bandgap consisting of earth abundant elements, and is seen as a potential 'drop-in' replacement to Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 in thin film solar cells. Currently, the record light-to-electrical power conversion efficiency (PCE) of kesterite-based devices is 12.6%, for which the absorber layer has been solutionprocessed. This efficiency must be increased if kesterite technology is to help power the future. Therefore two questions arise: what is the best way to synthesize the film? And how to improve the device efficiency? Here, we focus on the first question from a solution-based synthesis perspective. The main strategy is to mix all the elements together initially and coat them on a surface, followed by annealing in a reactive chalcogen atmosphere to react, grow grains and sinter the film. The main difference between the methods presented here is how easily the solvent, ligands, and anions are removed. Impurities impair the ability to achieve high performance (>∼10% PCE) in kesterite devices. Hydrazine routes offer the least impurities, but have environmental and safety concerns associated with hydrazine. Aprotic and protic based molecular inks are environmentally friendlier and less toxic, but they require the removal of organic and halogen species associated with the solvent and precursors, which is challenging but possible. Nanoparticle routes consisting of kesterite (or binary chalcogenides) particles require the removal of stabilizing ligands from their surfaces. Electrodeposited layers contain few impurities but are sometimes difficult to make compositionally uniform over large areas, and for metal deposited layers, they have to go through several solid-state reaction steps to form kesterite. Hence, each method has distinct advantages and disadvantages. We review the stateof-the art of each and provide perspective on the different strategies.

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Electrodeposition and selenization of brass/tin/germanium multilayers for Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)Se4 thin film photovoltaic devices

Cited by 13 publications

References 46 publications

GeSe-evoked synchronous strategy for electrodeposited CZGSe solar cells

GeSe-evoked synchronous strategy for electrodeposited CZGSe solar cells

Cation Substitution in Earth‐Abundant Kesterite Photovoltaic Materials

Solution-based synthesis of kesterite thin film semiconductors

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