Doctor-bladed Cu2ZnSnS4 light absorption layer for low-cost solar cell application

The doctor-blade method is investigated for the preparation of Cu2ZnSnS4 films for low-cost solar cell application.Cu2ZnSnS4 precursor powder,the main raw material for the doctor-blade paste,is synthesized by a simple ball-milling process.The doctor-bladed Cu2ZnSnS4 films are annealed in N2 ambient under various conditions and characterized by X-ray diffraction,ultraviolent/vis spectrophotometry,scanning electron microscopy,and current-voltage(J-V) meansurement.Our experimental results indicate that(i) the X-ray diffraction peaks of the Cu2ZnSnS4 precursor powder each show a red shift of about 0.4°;(ii) the high-temperature annealing process can effectively improve the crystallinity of the doctor-bladed Cu 2 ZnSnS 4,whereas an overlong annealing introduces defects;(iii) the band gap value of the doctor-bladed Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 is around 1.41 eV;(iv) the short-circuit current density,the open-circuit voltage,the fill factor,and the efficiency of the best Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell obtained with the superstrate structure of fluorine-doped tin oxide glass/TiO2/In2S3/Cu2ZnSnS4/Mo are 7.82 mA/cm2,240 mV,0.29,and 0.55%,respectively.