Optoelectronic property comparison for isostructural Cu2BaGeSe4 and Cu2BaSnS4 solar absorbers
Abstract
To target mitigation of anti-site defect formation in Cu2ZnSnS4–xSex, a new class of chalcogenides, for which Ba or Sr (group 2) replace Zn (group 12), has recently been introduced for prospective solar absorber application. Cu2BaGeSe4 (CBGSe) and Cu2BaSnS4 (CBTS) are two such compounds, which share a common trigonal crystal structure (P31 space group) and similar quasi-direct band gap (~2 eV). While CBTS-based films have already been studied, there are no reports yet on films and solar cells based on related CBGSe. To identify key differences and similarities in the electronic properties between these two materials, electronic characteristics (e.g., carrier concentration, mobility, electron affinity, defect levels, recombination, and charge carrier kinetics) of vacuum-deposited CBGSe and CBTS films are compared using a variety of characterization methods. Hall effect measurements reveal that CBGSe films have relatively higher hole carrier concentration and lower mobility (3 × 1015 cm–3, 0.6 cm2 V–1 s–1) compared to CBTS (5 × 1012 cm–3, 3.5 cm2 V–1 s–1). Photoelectron spectroscopy yields low electron affinity values for both CBGSe (3.7 eV) and CBTS (3.3 eV), pointing to the necessity of pursuing low electron affinity buffer materials for both types of absorbers. At low temperatures, CBGSe films show free-exciton photoluminescence, asmore »
- Authors:
-
- Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin (Germany)
- Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, NS (Canada)
- IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1865840
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1825794
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0020061
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry. A
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 41; Related Information: https://www.rsc.org/suppdata/d1/ta/d1ta05666b/d1ta05666b1.pdf; Journal ID: ISSN 2050-7488
- Publisher:
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Cu2BaGeSe4; Cu2BaSnS4; thin film; chalcogenide; solar cell
Citation Formats
Kim, Yongshin, Hempel, Hannes, Levcenco, Sergiu, Euvrard, Julie, Bergmann, Eric, Gunawan, Oki, Unold, Thomas, Hill, Ian G., and Mitzi, David B. Optoelectronic property comparison for isostructural Cu2BaGeSe4 and Cu2BaSnS4 solar absorbers. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.1039/d1ta05666b.
Kim, Yongshin, Hempel, Hannes, Levcenco, Sergiu, Euvrard, Julie, Bergmann, Eric, Gunawan, Oki, Unold, Thomas, Hill, Ian G., & Mitzi, David B. Optoelectronic property comparison for isostructural Cu2BaGeSe4 and Cu2BaSnS4 solar absorbers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta05666b
Kim, Yongshin, Hempel, Hannes, Levcenco, Sergiu, Euvrard, Julie, Bergmann, Eric, Gunawan, Oki, Unold, Thomas, Hill, Ian G., and Mitzi, David B. Mon .
"Optoelectronic property comparison for isostructural Cu2BaGeSe4 and Cu2BaSnS4 solar absorbers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta05666b. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1865840.
@article{osti_1865840,
title = {Optoelectronic property comparison for isostructural Cu2BaGeSe4 and Cu2BaSnS4 solar absorbers},
author = {Kim, Yongshin and Hempel, Hannes and Levcenco, Sergiu and Euvrard, Julie and Bergmann, Eric and Gunawan, Oki and Unold, Thomas and Hill, Ian G. and Mitzi, David B.},
abstractNote = {To target mitigation of anti-site defect formation in Cu2ZnSnS4–xSex, a new class of chalcogenides, for which Ba or Sr (group 2) replace Zn (group 12), has recently been introduced for prospective solar absorber application. Cu2BaGeSe4 (CBGSe) and Cu2BaSnS4 (CBTS) are two such compounds, which share a common trigonal crystal structure (P31 space group) and similar quasi-direct band gap (~2 eV). While CBTS-based films have already been studied, there are no reports yet on films and solar cells based on related CBGSe. To identify key differences and similarities in the electronic properties between these two materials, electronic characteristics (e.g., carrier concentration, mobility, electron affinity, defect levels, recombination, and charge carrier kinetics) of vacuum-deposited CBGSe and CBTS films are compared using a variety of characterization methods. Hall effect measurements reveal that CBGSe films have relatively higher hole carrier concentration and lower mobility (3 × 1015 cm–3, 0.6 cm2 V–1 s–1) compared to CBTS (5 × 1012 cm–3, 3.5 cm2 V–1 s–1). Photoelectron spectroscopy yields low electron affinity values for both CBGSe (3.7 eV) and CBTS (3.3 eV), pointing to the necessity of pursuing low electron affinity buffer materials for both types of absorbers. At low temperatures, CBGSe films show free-exciton photoluminescence, as well as pronounced deep-level emission at ~1.4 eV, while CBTS films exhibit a strong bound-exciton signal with noticeably less intense deep-level emission than for CBGSe. Charge carrier kinetics, transport, and recombination properties of both types of films are also analyzed using optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy and time-resolved microwave conductivity. The first CBGSe prototype solar cells (using chemical bath deposited CdS as a buffer layer) show a maximum of 1.5% efficiency with ~0.62 V open-circuit voltage. Furthermore, the measured properties point to possible limiting factors for CBGSe and related films for PV and optoelectronics and provide insights on possible approaches for improvement within this multinary chalcogenide family.},
doi = {10.1039/d1ta05666b},
journal = {Journal of Materials Chemistry. A},
number = 41,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Mon Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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