• Carter, N.J.; Mainz, R.; Walker, B.C.; Hages, C.J.; Just, J.; Klaus, M.; Schmidt, S.S.; Weber, A.; Yang, W.-C.D.; Zander, O.; Stach, E.A.; Unold, T.; Agrawal, R.: The role of interparticle heterogeneities in the selenization pathway of Cu-Zn-Sn-S nanoparticle thin films: a real-time study. Journal of Materials Chemistry C 3 (2015), p. 7128-7134

10.1039/c5tc01139f
Open Access Version

Abstract:
Real-time energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) analysis has been utilized to observe the selenization of Cu–Zn–Sn–S nanoparticle films coated from three nanoparticle populations: Cu- and Sn-rich particles roughly 5 nm in size, Zn-rich nanoparticles ranging from 10 to 20 nm in diameter, and a mixture of both types of nanoparticles (roughly 1 : 1 by mass), which corresponds to a synthesis recipe yielding CZTSSe solar cells with reported total-area efficiencies as high as 7.9%. The EDXRD studies presented herein show that the formation of copper selenide intermediates during the selenization of mixed-particle films can be primarily attributed to the small, Cu- and Sn-rich particles. Moreover, the formation of these copper selenide phases represents the first stage of the CZTSSe grain growth mechanism. The large, Zn-rich particles subsequently contribute their composition to form micrometer-sized CZTSSe grains. These findings enable further development of a previously proposed selenization pathway to account for the roles of interparticle heterogeneities, which in turn provides a valuable guide for future optimization of processes to synthesize high quality CZTSSe absorber layers.