Preparation and characterization of Cu2Six Sn1‐xS3

Abstract

AbstractCu2SnS3 is a promising compound for use as an absorber layer in thin film solar cells because it is made up of low‐cost and abundant elements, and has a high optical absorption coefficient. However, the band gap energy of monoclinic Cu2SnS3 is less than the value required for absorber layers in single‐junction solar cells. On the other hand, the band gap energy of Cu2SiS3 was reported to be approximately 2.5 eV, which is sufficiently large for this purpose. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt was made to synthesize Cu2Six Sn1‐xS3, which is a solid solution between Cu2SnS3 and Cu2SiS3. In X‐ray diffraction patterns from the synthesized compounds, the diffraction peaks were found to shift to higher 2θ values with increasing x, indicating a decrease in the lattice constants. In addition, the estimated band gap energy increased from 0.85 to 2.56 eV with increasing x. Cu2Six Sn1‐xS3 is therefore a potential candidate for use as the absorber layer in thin film solar cells because its band gap energy can be adjusted simply by varying its composition. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)