• Piciollo, Emanuele

Abstract

<jats:p>In order to substitute traditional cyanide-based baths and obtain a new eco-compatible route to synthesize via electrodeposition a CZTS (copper-zinc-tin sulfide) absorber films, this paper describes the development of a green electrodeposition bath for Cu–Sn alloys. CZTS, being a p-type semiconducting material could be used in novel and sustainable photovoltaic devices. In this work we analyzed the electrochemical behavior of different methanesulfonic acid-based prototype deposition bath containing tin methanesulfonate as tin precursor, copper sulfate or methanesulfonate as copper precursor, and hydroquinone, nitrilotriacetic acid and 2-picolinic acid as organic additives. Electrodeposition was conducted with different deposition parameters such as deposition potential, current density, potentiostatic or galvanostatic mode. Surface and cross-section morphology as well as composition of the films were characterized using SEM-EDS. The composition of the samples in terms of crystalline phases was analyzed using XRD, highlighting the information obtained by superlattice diffraction peaks based on the crystallography of Cu–Sn intermetallic phases. From prototype bath S4 a uniform composition around Cu:Sn = 2:1 was observed with <jats:inline-formula><jats:tex-math> <?CDATA $ ^ $?> </jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"><mml:mi>η</mml:mi><mml:mo accent="false">′</mml:mo></mml:math><jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jesab6c59ieqn1.gif" xlink:type="simple" /></jats:inline-formula> phase as the dominant phase, which could possibly facilitate the synthesis of CZTS due to its aligned body-center vacancies that could serve as sulfur diffusion path during sulfurization within each <jats:inline-formula><jats:tex-math> <?CDATA $ ^ $?> </jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"><mml:mi>η</mml:mi><mml:mo accent="false">′</mml:mo></mml:math><jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jesab6c59ieqn2.gif" xlink:type="simple" /></jats:inline-formula> crystal.</jats:p>

Topics

• density
• surface
• scanning electron microscopy
• x-ray diffraction
• crystalline phase
• zinc
• copper
• Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
• current density
• intermetallic
• tin
• electrodeposition
• bronze
• aligned