The properties of the earth abundant Cu2SnS3 thin film prepared by spray pyrolysis and rapid thermal annealing route

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2019-03, Vol.30 (5), p.4519-4526
• Main Authors: Chen, Qinmiao, Jia, Zhen, Yuan, Hongcun, Zhu, Wei, Ni, Yi, Zhu, Xifang, Dou, Xiaoming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annealing; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Copper sulfides; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectricity; Photovoltaic cells; Spray pyrolysis; Thin films; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-019-00740-3

Ternary compound Cu 2 SnS 3 (CTS) was fabricated by simple, low cost and high efficient spray pyrolysis and rapid thermal annealing route. The influences of annealing temperature and annealing duration on the properties of the prepared CTS thin film were investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction spectrometer, Scanning Electron Microscope, UV–Vis–IR spectrophotometer and I–V test system were employed for the analysis of the structural, morphological, optical and photoelectric properties of the prepared CTS thin film, respectively. The characterization results show that the CTS thin film prepared under the optimal annealing condition of 500 °C and 15 min presents as tetragonal structure with preferential (1,1,2), bandgap value of 1.44 eV, crystal grain size of around 80 nm and photoelectric conversion efficiency as high as 1.24%.