BaCu2Sn(S,Se)4: Earth-Abundant Chalcogenides for Thin-Film Photovoltaics

By Donghyeop Shin, B. Saparov, Tong Zhu, W. Huhn, Volker Blum, David B. Mitzi. 2016

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Chalcogenides such as CdTe, Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)2 (CIGSSe), and Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) have enabled remarkable advances in thin-film photovoltaic performance, but concerns remain regarding (i) the toxicity (CdTe) and (ii) scarcity (CIGSSe/CdTe) of the constituent elements and (iii) the unavoidable antisite disordering that limits further efficiency improvement (CZTSSe). In this work, we show that a different materials class, the BaCu2SnSexS4–x (BCTSSe) system, offers a prospective path to circumvent difficulties (i–iii) and to target new environmentally friendly and earth-abundant absorbers. Antisite disordering and associated band tailing are discouraged in BCTSSe due to the distinct coordination environment of the large Ba2+ cation. Indeed, an abrupt absorption edge and sharp associated photoluminescence emission demonstrate a reduced impact of band tailing in BCTSSe relative to CZTSSe. Our combined experimental and computational studies of BCTSSe reveal that the compositions 0 ≤ x ≤ 4 exhibit a tunable nea...

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c6adeebd83e793c487ac8e4b5e73f4157ffabbec