Properties and characterization of CZTS nanoparticles prepared by microwave heating irradiation

Giedrė Grincienė; Vidas Pakštas; Raimondas Giraitis; Gediminas Niaura; Arnas Naujokaitis; Jurga Juodkazytė; Loreta Tamašauskaitė-Tamašiūnaitė; Remigijus Juškėnas; Birutė Šimkūnaitė-Stanynienė; Eugenijus Norkus

doi:10.6001/chemija.v29i1.3641

Giedrė Grincienė
Vidas Pakštas
Raimondas Giraitis
Gediminas Niaura
Arnas Naujokaitis
Jurga Juodkazytė
Loreta Tamašauskaitė-Tamašiūnaitė
Remigijus Juškėnas
Birutė Šimkūnaitė-Stanynienė
Eugenijus Norkus

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6001/chemija.v29i1.3641

Keywords: Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanoparticles, microwave synthesis, XRD in situ

Abstract

Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) nanoparticles suitable for solar cell absorber fabrication were synthesized by the microwave-assisted heating method. The influence of the reaction temperature, the temperature increase duration and post-annealing temperature on the chemical composition, crystallographic structure, phase purity and optical properties of CZTS nanocrystals has been investigated by means of XRD, Raman spectroscopy, scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopies (TEM), EDX and UV–Vis spectroscopies. The chemical composition of the CZTS nanoparticles synthesized at a temperature of 250°C and the temperature increase duration of 10 min are almost stoichiometric. The post-annealing process of CZTS has been investigated by means of the in situ XRD method. The results obtained point to the presence of a pure CZTS phase after annealing of the synthesized powder at a temperature of 550°C. The direct band gap energy (E_g) of the CZTS nanoparticles obtained depends on the post-annealing temperature and reaches nearly 1.5 eV at 550°C.