AgInS2 nanostructures: sonochemical synthesis, characterization, and its solar cell application

According to literature, coordination compounds as suitable precursors have never been used for ultrasonic synthesis of AgInS2 nanostructure. For this purpose, silver(I) salicylate, [Ag(HSal)], as a novel precursor is introduced to synthesize AgInS2 nanostructure. Besides, the effects of various experimental including reaction time, irradiation power, silver precursors, sulfide sources, surfactant, and type of solvent on morphology, particle size, and chemical structure of the products were studied by SEM and XRD techniques. In order to examine the application of AgInS2 nanostructures as an absorption layer in FTO/AgInS2/CdS/Pt-FTO solar cell, a thin film of CdS was put on an AgInS2 film through chemical bath in order to build a solar cell. The studies showed that morphology and size play crucial role on efficiencyand the highest efficiency (0.12 %) is achieved by flower-like nanostructures while the lowest efficiency (0.045 %) is achieved by agglomerated products.