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Facile synthesis and post-processing of eco-friendly, highly conductive copper zinc tin sulphide nanoparticles

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Abstract

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanoparticles have shown promising properties to be used as an energy harvesting material. They are usually synthesised under inert atmosphere or vacuum, whereas the subsequent step of film formation is carried out under an atmosphere of sulphur and/or Sn in order to avoid the decomposition of CZTS nanoparticles into binary and ternary species as well as the formation of the corresponding oxides. In the present paper we show that both the synthesis of CZTS nanoparticles and the film formation from the corresponding suspension can be considerably simplified. Namely, the synthesis can be carried out without controlling the atmosphere, whereas during the film annealing a nitrogen atmosphere is sufficient to avoid the depletion of the CZTS kesterite phase. Furthermore, an integrated approach including in-depth Raman analysis is developed in order to deal with the challenges associated with the characterization of CZTS nanoparticles in comparison to bulk systems. The formation of competitive compounds during the synthesis such as binary and ternary sulphides as well as metal oxides nanoparticles is discussed in detail. Finally, the as-produced films have ten times higher conductivity than the state of the art.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge BAYER Technology Services for financial support. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the Cluster of Excellence ‘Engineering of Advanced Material’ initiative at the ‘Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg’. The authors acknowledge Dr. Nicola Taccardi at the Institute of Chemical Reaction Technology for the ICP-OES measurements and fruitful discussion. Furthermore, Dr. B. Braunschweig and Mr. T. Nacken are acknowledged for helpful discussion on Raman analysis.

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  1. Institute of Particle Technology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Cauerstrasse 4, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Rameez Ahmad, Monica Distaso & Wolfgang Peukert

  2. Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (I-MEET), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Martensstrasse 7, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Hamed Azimi & Christoph J. Brabec

  3. Bavarian Centre for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern), Haberstr. 2a, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Christoph J. Brabec

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  1. Rameez Ahmad
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  2. Monica Distaso
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  5. Wolfgang Peukert
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Ahmad, R., Distaso, M., Azimi, H. et al. Facile synthesis and post-processing of eco-friendly, highly conductive copper zinc tin sulphide nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 15, 1886 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1886-9

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