Effects of potassium doping on solution processed kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells

Alkaline metals doping is one of the approaches for achieving high efficiency Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 (CIGS) solar cell. Recently, potassium doping helps to break the record efficiency of CIGS solar cell doped with sodium. In this paper, we have investigated how incorporation of potassium can influence the properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film and the performance of resulting solar cell. Our results showed that K doping can enhance the (112) preferred orientation, increase the grain size and reduce the second phase ZnS of the CZTS thin films. After K doping, despite of some drop of V-oc for CZTS thin film solar cells, the R-s is decreased and the J(sc) is improved markedly, and the solar cell efficiency is boosted. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.