Ag2ZnSn(S,Se)4: A highly promising absorber for thin film photovoltaics

Chagarov, Evgueni; Sardashti, Kasra; Kummel, Andrew C.; Lee, Yun Seog; Haight, Richard; Gershon, Talia S.

doi:10.1063/1.4943270

Title: Ag₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄: A highly promising absorber for thin film photovoltaics

Journal Article · Mon Mar 14 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Chemical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4943270· OSTI ID:1470318

Chagarov, Evgueni ^[1]; Sardashti, Kasra ^[1]; Kummel, Andrew C. ^[1]; Lee, Yun Seog ^[2]; Haight, Richard ^[2]; Gershon, Talia S. ^[2]

Univ. of California, La Jolla, San Diego, CA (United States)
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Hts., NY (United States)

The growth in efficiency of earth-abundant kesterite Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) solar cells has slowed, due in part to the intrinsic limitations imposed by the band tailing attributed primarily to I-II antisite exchange. In this study, density functional theory simulations show that when Ag is substituted for Cu to form kesterite Ag₂ZnSnSe₄ (AZTSe), the I-II isolated antisite formation energy becomes 3.7 times greater than in CZTSSe, resulting in at least an order of magnitude reduction in I-II antisite density. Experimental evidence of an optoelectronically improved material is also provided. Comparison of the low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) structure of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe), CZTSSe, and AZTSe shows that AZTSe has a shallow defect structure with emission significantly closer to the band edge than CZTSe. Existence of suppressed band tailing is found in the proximity of the room-temperature PL peak of AZTSe to its measured band gap. In conclusion, the results are consistent with AZTSe being a promising alternative to CZTSSe and CIGSe for thin film photovoltaics.

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Research Organization:: IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0006334

OSTI ID:: 1470318

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1241443

Journal Information:: Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 144, Issue 10; ISSN 0021-9606

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 83 works

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