Solvothermal synthesis of Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 nanoparticles with tunable band gap energies

Xiaoli PENG; Shu ZHANG; Yong XIANG

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248

Solvothermal synthesis of Cu₂Zn(Sn_1-xGe_x)S₄ and Cu₂(Sn_1-xGe_x)S₃ nanoparticles with tunable band gap energies

Xiaoli PENG, Shu ZHANG^*, Yong XIANG

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The performance of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ based thin film solar cells can be efficiently improved by proper elemental substitution. This paper describes a facile and cost-efficient solvothermal route to synthesize Cu₂(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₃ and Cu₂Zn(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₄ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanoparticles, using elemental sulfur, GeCl₄ and other metal salts as the precursors. To avoid the instability of pure CeCl₄ toward the moisture and protic solvents, its acetone solution was prepared to use in the synthesis. The resulting Cu₂Zn(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₄ and Cu₂(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₃ materials show tunable Ge/Sn ratios through simply adjusting the amount of metal salts in the starting materials, subsequently leading to composition-dependent band gap engineering. The Hall measurement and photoelectrochemical studies reveal that the synthesized Cu₂Zn(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₄ and Cu₂(Sn_1-_xGe_x)S₃ materials are p-type semiconductor, and the electrical and photoelectrical properties indicate their application potential in thin film solar cells.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	75-81
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of Alloys and Compounds
Volume	640
Early online date	9 Apr 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248
Publication status	Published - 15 Aug 2015
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Funds of China (Contract Nos. 51102038 and 51472044) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Contract No. NCET-12-0098).

Keywords

Cu(SnGe)S
CuZn(SnGe)S
Solvothermal synthesis
Thin film solar cell
Tunable band gap

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248

Cite this

@article{b09d4f9b7d2b4474b4a817e15697ae74,

title = "Solvothermal synthesis of Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 nanoparticles with tunable band gap energies",

abstract = "The performance of Cu2ZnSnS4 based thin film solar cells can be efficiently improved by proper elemental substitution. This paper describes a facile and cost-efficient solvothermal route to synthesize Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 and Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanoparticles, using elemental sulfur, GeCl4 and other metal salts as the precursors. To avoid the instability of pure CeCl4 toward the moisture and protic solvents, its acetone solution was prepared to use in the synthesis. The resulting Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials show tunable Ge/Sn ratios through simply adjusting the amount of metal salts in the starting materials, subsequently leading to composition-dependent band gap engineering. The Hall measurement and photoelectrochemical studies reveal that the synthesized Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials are p-type semiconductor, and the electrical and photoelectrical properties indicate their application potential in thin film solar cells.",

keywords = "Cu(SnGe)S, CuZn(SnGe)S, Solvothermal synthesis, Thin film solar cell, Tunable band gap",

author = "Xiaoli PENG and Shu ZHANG and Yong XIANG",

note = "The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Funds of China (Contract Nos. 51102038 and 51472044) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Contract No. NCET-12-0098).",

year = "2015",

month = aug,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248",

language = "English",

volume = "640",

pages = "75--81",

journal = "Journal of Alloys and Compounds",

issn = "0925-8388",

publisher = "Elsevier BV",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Solvothermal synthesis of Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 nanoparticles with tunable band gap energies

AU - PENG, Xiaoli

AU - ZHANG, Shu

AU - XIANG, Yong

N1 - The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Science Funds of China (Contract Nos. 51102038 and 51472044) and Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Contract No. NCET-12-0098).

PY - 2015/8/15

Y1 - 2015/8/15

N2 - The performance of Cu2ZnSnS4 based thin film solar cells can be efficiently improved by proper elemental substitution. This paper describes a facile and cost-efficient solvothermal route to synthesize Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 and Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanoparticles, using elemental sulfur, GeCl4 and other metal salts as the precursors. To avoid the instability of pure CeCl4 toward the moisture and protic solvents, its acetone solution was prepared to use in the synthesis. The resulting Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials show tunable Ge/Sn ratios through simply adjusting the amount of metal salts in the starting materials, subsequently leading to composition-dependent band gap engineering. The Hall measurement and photoelectrochemical studies reveal that the synthesized Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials are p-type semiconductor, and the electrical and photoelectrical properties indicate their application potential in thin film solar cells.

AB - The performance of Cu2ZnSnS4 based thin film solar cells can be efficiently improved by proper elemental substitution. This paper describes a facile and cost-efficient solvothermal route to synthesize Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 and Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanoparticles, using elemental sulfur, GeCl4 and other metal salts as the precursors. To avoid the instability of pure CeCl4 toward the moisture and protic solvents, its acetone solution was prepared to use in the synthesis. The resulting Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials show tunable Ge/Sn ratios through simply adjusting the amount of metal salts in the starting materials, subsequently leading to composition-dependent band gap engineering. The Hall measurement and photoelectrochemical studies reveal that the synthesized Cu2Zn(Sn1-xGex)S4 and Cu2(Sn1-xGex)S3 materials are p-type semiconductor, and the electrical and photoelectrical properties indicate their application potential in thin film solar cells.

KW - Cu(SnGe)S

KW - CuZn(SnGe)S

KW - Solvothermal synthesis

KW - Thin film solar cell

KW - Tunable band gap

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84927595195&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248

DO - 10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.03.248

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

AN - SCOPUS:84927595195

SN - 0925-8388

VL - 640

SP - 75

EP - 81

JO - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

JF - Journal of Alloys and Compounds

ER -