Water based spray pyrolysis of metal-oxide solutions for Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cells using low toxicity amine/thiol complexants

Improving Carrier-Transport Properties of CZTS by Mg Incorporation with Spray Pyrolysis

“…Spray pyrolysis is used due to its promising methods in terms of procedure, operation, cost, and scalability. Many studies in spray pyrolysis-based CZTS have been done to understand how to avoid the formation of secondary phases and control the desired stoichiometry ratio and morphology. − CZTSSe deposited by spray pyrolysis was reported to exhibit 5–8% efficiency, which is comparable to other solution methods. ,,− Following the film formation, the morphology, crystal structure, and phases of the thin films were investigated and correlated with photovoltaic device characteristics. A combination of multiwavelength Raman and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses reveals the crystal quality and phase formation in thin films with different Mg contents.…”

Solution processed CZTS solar cells using amine–thiol systems: understanding the dissolution process and device fabrication

“…These results show that ethanolamine solutions are ideal for deposition of CZTS by spin coating as the solvent readily evaporates at temperatures below 300 1C, allowing the use of lower temperatures which could prevent oxidation of the thin film. This temperature is also favourable in comparison to TGA of the water solutions used in our previous work, 31 where the mass (%) remaining was still B15% at 250 1C (graph available in ESI, † Fig. S23).…”

“…Furthermore, the viscosity of ethanolamine had proved detrimental to spray pyrolysis in our previous work, 30,31 therefore deposition of CZTS by spin coating was selected as a preferred technique.…”

“…In previous work within our laboratories, copper, zinc, tin and selenium were dissolved in a mixture of ethanolamine and cysteamine (a relatively low toxicity amine-thiol solvent system), 30 whereas the respective metal oxides/sulfates were employed to prepare aqueous solutions. 31 Several attempts have been made to obtain a deeper insight into the dissolution process of metals and their compounds in binary solvent amine/thiol mixtures. 29,32,33 However, composition of the inks for depositing CZTS thin films has not been elucidated in detail.…”

“…Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of inks containing ethanolamine complexes of various metals carried out by Vila 34 revealed that the majority of the ethanolamine evaporated by B200 1C. In our previous reports, 30,31 spray deposition of inks based on ethanolamine or water onto a hotplate had been attempted, but this technique had proven difficult due to the high viscosity of the solutions.…”