Path towards high-efficient kesterite solar cells

Abstract

Kesterite structure semiconductor Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 is one of the most promising candidate as a light absorber material to overtake the next generation of thin film solar cells, owing to its low cost, non-toxic, and earth abundant source materials. The Shockley-Queisser limit of the single junction Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cell is over 30%, signifying a large potential of this family of solar cells. In the past years, with the development of synthesis techniques, Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cells have attracted considerable attention and the power conversion efficiency of Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cell has experienced a rapid progress. Presently, the certified champion efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells has reached to 12.6%, which is far below the efficiency of Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 solar cell. In this review, the developments of Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cells in recent years are briefly reviewed. Then the fundamental understanding of Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 solar cells is introduced, including materials and device structure, as well as the band alignment of hetero-junction and their impacts on device performance. After that, we mainly review the progress and achievements in the preparation processes, through vacuum and non-vacuum based processes. Finally, we outline the challenges and perspectives of this promising solar cell.

Efficient Optimization of the Performance of Mn2+‐Doped Kesterite Solar Cell: Machine Learning Aided Synthesis of High Efficient Cu2(Mn,Zn)Sn(S,Se)4 Solar Cells

“…Thin film solar cells Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) and Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 (CZTSe) are prospective substitutes for Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 (CIGS) due to the composition elements of their absorber materials are non‐toxic and earth abundant. Up to now, the champion efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells is still 12.6%, which is mainly because of the large V OC deficit ( E g / q ‐ V OC ) . One of the important factors for low efficiency in CZTSSe is cationic disorder .…”

Room‐Temperature Surface Sulfurization for High‐Performance Kesterite CZTSe Solar Cells

“…Kesterite‐structured Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe) has been studied extensively because of its earth‐abundance, low toxicity, and high absorption coefficient . To date, the efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells has reached 12.7%, which is still far lower than the best efficiency of CIGS solar cells (22.9%) .…”

Solution-based synthesis of kesterite thin film semiconductors

“…Reviews can be found on fabricating nanoparticles (NPs) of various types (e.g. metallic, chalcogenides, oxides) for application in different locations of thin-film photovoltaic devices [55], on the approach of using sintered NPs for CIGS or CZTS [56], and on the evolution of NP-based CZTS device efficiency [57]. Here, we provide an update and comprehensive survey on the CZTS nanoparticle processing.…”