Spin-coated CZTS films prepared by two different precursor mixing regimes, at room temperature and at 150 °C

In this paper, we examine the impact of the precursor's mixing temperature and mixing protocol on the crystal structure and morphological and optical properties of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films. Four samples of CZTS thin films were synthesized with the sol-gel spin coating technique by previously mixing precursors at (a) 150 °C and (b) room temperature (RT), either (i) all at once or (ii) through sequential adding the individual chemicals 30 min apart. SEM-EDX, XRD, Raman and Visible spectroscopy analysis showed that sample 150°C-ST (chemicals mixed at the same time at 150 °C) fulfilled all the theoretical stoichiometric criteria (poor in Cu, rich in Zn) for the high-quality CZTS absorbers. The larger grain size (850 nm) and crystallite size (73.96 nm), lower strain (0.49×10−3) and band gap Eg=1.44eV which is closest to the Shockley–Queisser limit for single junction solar cells (1.34 eV).