Abstract
For single crystalline sulfur-based kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 the electrical and thermal conductivity are measured from 20 K to 320 K. The electrical conductivity decreases exponentially with decreasing temperature. The temperature dependence can be assigned to Mott-variable-range-hopping, an electrical transport process within an impurity band in the band gap. With the 3ω-method a thermal conductivity room temperature value of 5.1 ± 0.5 Wm−1K−1 and a maximal value of 8.0 ± 0.5 Wm−1K−1 at 100 K are found. Phonon-phonon-umklapp-scattering can explain the high temperature range from 100 K to 320 K. The low temperature values of the thermal conductivity are dominated by the temperature-dependence of the specific heat capacity, due to a reduced phonon-mean-free-path, owing to phonon-impurity-scattering.
Highlights
Inorganic thin film solar cell materials are of high interest to increase the efficiency while decreasing the overall material quantity
It was shown that CZTS crystallizes in the kesterite-type structure as it was shown by results of Rietveld analysis of neutron powder diffraction data [3]
To confirm the quality of the crystal and to determine the charge carrier part of the thermal conductivity a CZTS crystals electrical conductivity is measured as a function of temperature
Summary
Inorganic thin film solar cell materials are of high interest to increase the efficiency while decreasing the overall material quantity. Best efficiency values are obtained by CuInxGax–2Se2 [1], but due to the rare Indium and Gallium components, these compounds are not favored for terawatt scale application. It was shown that CZTS crystallizes in the kesterite-type structure as it was shown by results of Rietveld analysis of neutron powder diffraction data [3]. Because of the temperature-dependence of the efficiency for application in solar technology the thermal properties are of interest. Thermal conductivity room temperature values of kesterite crystals are measured by Liu et al [6] with values between 3 Wm−1K−1 and 5 Wm−1K−1. Single crystalline kesterite thermal conductivity values below room temperature remain to be investigated. With the efficiency of solar cell modules varying with temperature, especially in harsh environments thermal management will become an issue and the thermal conductivity data has to be available
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