Towards environmentally benign approaches for the synthesis of CZTSSe nanocrystals by a hot injection method: a status review

Abstract

With the earth's abundance of kesterite, recent progress in chalcogenide based Cu2ZnSn(Sx,Se1-x)4 (CZTSSe) thin films has drawn prime attention in thin film solar cells (TFSCs) research and development. This review is focused on the current developments in the synthesis of CZTS nanocrystals (NCs) using a hot injection (HI) technique and provides comprehensive discussions on the current status of CZTSSe TFSCs. This article begins with a description of the advantages of nanoparticulate based thin films, and then introduces the basics of this technique and the corresponding growth mechanism is also discussed. A brief overview further addresses a series of investigations on the developments in the HI based CZTSSe NCs using different solvents in terms of their high toxicity to environmentally benign materials. A variety of recipes and techniques for the NCs ink formulation and thereby the preparation of absorber layers using NC inks are outlined, respectively. The deposition of precursor thin films, post-deposition processes such as sulfurization or selenization treatments and the fabrication of CZTSSe NCs based solar cells and their performances are discussed. Finally, we discussed concluding remarks and the perspectives for further developments in the existing research on CZTSSe based nanoparticulate (NP) TFSCs towards future green technology.

A comprehensive study on the mechanism behind formation and depletion of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) phases

“…16 The results presented in this study related to defects may be generalized for I-III-VI 2 and I 2 -II-IV-VI 2 type nanoparticles synthesised by hot injection. 4 Moreover, understanding of the formation mechanism can help to formulate synthesis and annealing strategies to maximise the formation of kesterite type CZTS.…”

“…The study employs the well-established, most widely used hot injection approach. 4 It is carried out in continuation of our previous report 35 where, along with fully crystalline, nondefective CZTS nanoparticles, also particles with crystallographic defects were observed. The study presented leads to the development of general strategies for controlling the amount of different phases and defects in multicomponent nanoparticle systems synthesised by hot injection.…”

“…1,2 Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 (CZTS) is considered to be a suitable absorber semiconductor with a tunable bad gap, giving an opportunity to fully utilize the sunlight's spectrum. 1,3,4 Additionally CZTS consists of earth abundant as well as non-toxic elements as compared to other semiconductors used in solar cells like CdSe/Te, PbS(e), CuInS 2 , CuIJIn,Ga)IJSe,S) 2 , CuInSe 2 etc. 5 Presently, solar cells using CZTSSe have reached efficiencies as high as 12.7% leading to promising future perspectives.…”

Improved photoelectrochemical performance of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films prepared using modified successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) sequence

“…Several attempts have been utilized to fabricate efficient TFSCs based on CZTS absorber layers [3,4]. The highest efficiency of 12.6% has been reported for solution-processed CZTS thin films, while vacuum-based sputtering methods have been achieved an efficiency of 10.8% in 14 cm 2 cells.…”

Síntesis de kesterita Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ mediante métodos de hot-injection y solvotermal

“…En el caso de la metodología sol-gel pese a obtenerse la fase deseada de CZTS las eficiencias de conversión eléctrica que se obtienen son relativamente bajas. [9,23] En el presente trabajo, se proponen vías de preparación alternativos a los previamente mencionados, como son "hot-injection" [24,25] y la síntesis solvotermal [7,26]. El hot-injection se ha seleccionado basándose en resultados previos logrados con estructuras de calcopirita [27], mientras que solvotermal goza de la ventaja de un pre-tratamiento previo a la calcinación bajo presión superior a la atmosférica, donde la disolución precursora se calienta por encima de su punto de ebullición, consiguiendo así mejor homogenización de los reactivos y a consecuencia una disminución de la temperatura de síntesis.…”