Potential Role of Kesterites in Development of Earth‐Abundant Elements‐Based Next Generation Technology

Abstract

Recently, Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe)‐based kesterite thin films have received growing attention in a wide variety of fields due to their suitable physico‐chemical asset nano‐ and micro‐scale. The low elemental cost, earth abundance, and environment‐friendly nature have widened the scope and made it a potential material for developing next‐generation technology. The kesterite thin films have already shown their potential in thin‐film photovoltaics (PVs) with a record efficiency of nearly 12.6%. Apart from solar cells, they have also demonstrated their widespread applicability in the field of photodetectors, gas sensors, thermoelectrics, solar water splitting, energy storage, humidity sensors, antibacterial activities, and many more. This review aims to present an overview of the advancement in the CZTSSe‐based kesterite thin films in terms of synthesis, material properties, and their use in various applications. A comprehensive review of each device application contains ongoing progress, device fabrication, and related issues. Furthermore, this review emphasizes kesterite materials and possible solutions to proposed pitfalls, thus strengthening kesterite's perspective.

Optimizing the Back Contact of Kesterites and Perovskites: Band Edge Design and Defect Engineering in Molybdenum Chalcogenides

“…A metal with a relatively high work function and high carrier mobility is always selected as the back electrode of solar cells to efficiently export photogenerated holes. [37][38][39][40][41] Since anion electronegativity of absorbers is usually much greater than that of metal as back electrode, the interfacial intermediate phases, such as MoS(e) 2 for CZTS(e)/Mo [1,[18][19][20] and Cu(Ag)I for CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /Cu(Ag), [40][41][42][43] are inevitably formed during the deposition process. However, the spontaneously formed secondary phases are not always benign as back contacts, because such interrelated factors of interfacial band alignment, thickness, and defect properties should be properly accommodated at the same time.…”

ImprovedJscby Increasing the Absorber Layer Thickness of Monoclinic‐Dominated Cu2SnS3Thin Film Solar Cells Fabricated on Flexible Mo Foil

“…[1,2] CTS is a ternary compound material with p-type conductivity derived from groups I-IV-VI that is sometimes produced as a secondary phase in Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS)-based TFSCs and offer similar optoelectronic properties that can replace the quaternary CZTS absorbers for solar cells. [3][4][5] Kesterite CZTS-based absorbers have been extensively studied for TFSCs, whereas CTS material excluding zinc (Zn) element is relatively less explored. [4] The theoretically predicted power conversion efficiency (PCE) of CTS-based TFSCs is about 33.0% which is the highest among PCE predicted for CuInGaSe 2 and CZTS-based TFSCs.…”

“…[3][4][5] Kesterite CZTS-based absorbers have been extensively studied for TFSCs, whereas CTS material excluding zinc (Zn) element is relatively less explored. [4] The theoretically predicted power conversion efficiency (PCE) of CTS-based TFSCs is about 33.0% which is the highest among PCE predicted for CuInGaSe 2 and CZTS-based TFSCs. [6,7] Owing to its favorable optoelectronic properties, i.e., higher absorption coefficient (>10 À4 cm À1 ) and wide optical bandgap ranges from 0.93 to 1.77 eV depending on elemental composition and crystal structure.…”

“…[14] Numerous studies have been reported by various research groups for Cu 2 ZnSn(S,Se) 4 (CZTSSe)-based TFSCs on various substrates, i.e., SLG, indium tin oxide (ITO), and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) with flexible substrates based on metal foils such as molybdenum, stainless steel, aluminum, and also on polyimide. [4] While CTS TFSCs on flexible substrates are hardly mentioned in literature. [15] The highest PCE of over 13.0% and 11.19% have been reported for CZTSSe devices on SLG/Mo and Mo foil, respectively.…”

Suppressing the formation of double‐layer in Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 ( CZTSe ) absorber layer by facile heating process through nontoxic selenium atmosphere

“…Owing to the good light absorption characteristics of CZTSe, it is not only used in solar cells but also in photodetectors, solar water splitting, thermoelectric, biosensors, among others. 7 Therefore, CZTSe is worthy of being studied for extensive commercial applications. In terms of solar cells, among various CZTS(Se)-based materials, the CZTSSe solar cell prepared by adding hydrazine solution to the precursor during its production has the highest conversion efficiency of 12.6%.…”