Surfactant-free stable SnS2 nanoparticles dispersion for deposition of device-quality films

Abstract

Tin sulfide (SnS2) has recently attracted considerable attention due to its layered structure that may form two dimensional morphologies. It is an n-type semiconductor with band gap and electron affinity similar to CdS and In2S3; therefore can be regarded as an alternative for these materials in thin film solar cells. Here, we synthesis of SnS2 nanoparticles with different morphology in different ratio of water-ethanol mixed solution by solvothermal method, and observe that more ethanol leads to large sheet like morphologies, while water based synthesis results in very small nanosheets. A challenge in wet deposition of device-quality thin films of SnS2 is the requirement for highly dispersed particles/sheets. We found highly polar dimethylformamide (DMF) as the right dispersing medium, yielding highly stable dispersions. Very uniform nanocrystalline thin films with [001] preferred orientation and good adhesion to substrate are simply deposited by drop casting and spin coating a 0.5 wt% DMF sol of SnS2 at 2000 rpm for 1 min. Electron affinity and band gap of the films are 4.33 eV and 2.27 eV, which is well aligned for copper indium gallium sulfo-selenide (CIGS) solar cells.