Optical and electrical properties study of sol-gel derived Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films for solar cells

The fabrication of environmental-friendly Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films with pure kesterite phase is always a challenge to researchers in the field of solar cells. We introduce a simple non-vacuum sol-gel method to fabricate kesterite CZTS films. Ethylenediamine is used as the chelating agent and stabilizer and plays an important role in preparing stable precursor. X-ray diffraction, Raman and scanning electron microscopy studies suggest that the microstructure and optical properties of CZTS films depend strongly on annealing temperatures. The temperature dependence of conductivity of 500 degrees C annealed CZTS film shows that the Mott law dominates in the low temperature region and thermionic emission is predominant at high temperatures. (C) 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.