Efficiency Enhancement of Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cells via

Dec 20, 2017 - School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. ‡ Sc...
0 downloads 13 Views 2MB Size
Subscriber access provided by UNIV OF DURHAM

Article

Efficiency enhancement of kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cells via solutionprocessed ultra-thin tin oxide intermediate layer at absorber/buffer interface Heng Sun, Kaiwen Sun, Jialiang Huang, Chang Yan, Fangyang Liu, Jongsung Park, Aobo Pu, John A. Stride, Martin A. Green, and Xiaojing Hao ACS Appl. Energy Mater., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.7b00044 • Publication Date (Web): 20 Dec 2017 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on December 20, 2017

Just Accepted “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication. They are posted online prior to technical editing, formatting for publication and author proofing. The American Chemical Society provides “Just Accepted” as a free service to the research community to expedite the dissemination of scientific material as soon as possible after acceptance. “Just Accepted” manuscripts appear in full in PDF format accompanied by an HTML abstract. “Just Accepted” manuscripts have been fully peer reviewed, but should not be considered the official version of record. They are accessible to all readers and citable by the Digital Object Identifier (DOI®). “Just Accepted” is an optional service offered to authors. Therefore, the “Just Accepted” Web site may not include all articles that will be published in the journal. After a manuscript is technically edited and formatted, it will be removed from the “Just Accepted” Web site and published as an ASAP article. Note that technical editing may introduce minor changes to the manuscript text and/or graphics which could affect content, and all legal disclaimers and ethical guidelines that apply to the journal pertain. ACS cannot be held responsible for errors or consequences arising from the use of information contained in these “Just Accepted” manuscripts.

ACS Applied Energy Materials is published by the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Published by American Chemical Society. Copyright © American Chemical Society. However, no copyright claim is made to original U.S. Government works, or works produced by employees of any Commonwealth realm Crown government in the course of their duties.

Page 1 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

Efficiency enhancement of kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cells via solution-processed ultra-thin tin oxide intermediate layer at absorber/buffer interface Heng Sun†, Kaiwen Sun†, Jialiang Huang†, Chang Yan†, Fangyang Liu†,*, Jongsung Park†, Aobo Pu†, John A. Stride§, Martin A. Green†, and Xiaojing Hao†,* †

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New

South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia §

School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

ABSTRACT The ultra-thin SnO2 intermediate layer deposited by a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method was introduced into the hetero-interface between p-type Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) absorber and n-type CdS buffer for interface defect passivation in kesterite thin film solar cells. CZTS solar cells with SnO2 intermediate layers show higher open circuit voltage (Voc) of 657 mV and fill factor (FF) of 62.8%, compared to its counterpart cells without the SnO2 intermediate layer, which have  of 638 mV and FF of 52.4%, resulting in the improvement in overall efficiency from 6.82% to 8.47%. The mitigation of the Voc deficit and the improvement of FF are believed to result from the integrated effects of CZTS/CdS heterointerface passivation, shunt blocking and band alignments. The passivation effect is further affirmed by the improved carrier lifetime. Furthermore, EQE profiles appeal a strengthened blue optical response which is contributed to the decrease of CdS thickness. This work provides a new insight of CdS/CZTS interface passivation, shunt blocking and optimization of band alignments, based on solution-processed SnO2.

1 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 2 of 27

KEYWORDS: Kesterite CZTS solar cells, SnO2, interface recombination, passivation, shunt blocking, electron-selective, band alignment, parasitic absorption *Correspondence Xiaojing Hao, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: [email protected] Fangyang Liu, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of

New

South

Wales,

Sydney,

NSW

2052,

Australia.

Email:

[email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION Thin film photovoltaics have the advantage of high specific power and have drawn great attention toward meeting the terawatts-scale global energy consumption.

1

Among the thin film solar cells with excellent long-term stability, chalcogenide Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) and CdTe are the forerunners of thin film photovoltaics, with both having champion efficiencies of over 22%. 2 However, the scarcity of In and Te restricts the production capacity of CIGS and CdTe solar cells to less than 100 GWp 3 respectively. Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell is one of the promising derivatives of chalcogenide CIGSe devices, substituting scarce In/Ga with abundant Zn and Sn and toxic Se with S, thereby exploiting earth-abundant, cost-effective and environmentally benign materials. However, large Voc deficit (~790 mV for the champion cell 2), defined by Eg/q - Voc, is one of the major causes of much lower efficiency than that of its counterpart CIGSe solar cells. The Voc loss in sulfide CZTS solar cells is, in large extent, induced by interface recombination of photogenerated carriers.

4-5

The electrical and structural

2 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 3 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

discrepancies between CZTS absorber and CdS buffer give rise to lattice mismatches, defects, interface states and band discontinuities, which promote the interface recombination.

4, 6-9

Previous studies have reported to tackle these problems on

kesterite solar cells for diminishing the Voc deficit. For example, the discrepancy of lattice constants could be reduced by employing a lattice-matched CeO2 between CZTS and CdS, resulting with the alleviation of interface recombination.

10

Additionally, CdS has been replaced by Zn1-xCdxS as a buffer layer to obtain a favorable “spike”-like CBO preventing the recombination from the trap states of “cliff”-like CdS/CZTS interface.

11

Wide-bandgap (WBG) insulating materials, such

as atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3 and ALD-TiO2, have been applied as intermediate passivation layer between Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) or Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) and CdS buffer to passivate defect states at the interface and thereby boosting carrier lifetime and performance.

12-16

SnO2 is also one of the potential

materials for interface passivation in kesterite solar cells. However, rather limited reports have ever presented the use of SnO2 as an interface passivation layer for chalcogenide and kesterite solar cells. In regard to binary absorber materials, ALDSnO2 have been implemented for interface passivation for SnS 17 solar cells. Besides, the formation of SnOx-rich grain boundaries 18 by air annealing at temperature of 300400 ℃ was found to yield outstanding passivation effects in CZTSSe solar cells. In contrast to the widely used ALD method, 19 solution-based methods are cost-effective and vacuum-free, thereby possessing great potential for mass production. In this work, ultrathin SnO2 intermediate layers were deposited by an environmentally benign, cost-effective, simple and reproducible successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method using NH4OH as the complexing agent. This method has been previously introduced for the fabrication of SnO2 thin film. 20 The use of SILAR3 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

SnO2 is capable of passivating the interface and optimizing the band alignments of both conduction and valence bands. Remarkable improvements in FF and Voc were consequently achieved compared to our reference devices without any intermediate layer between CZTS and CdS, prompting the overall efficiency from 6.8 % to 8.5 %. 2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION Precursor solution preparation: The precursor solution for the ultrathin SnO2 layer was prepared by dissolving SnCl4∙5H2O (1.25 mM, AR) in the de-ionized (DI) water. NH4OH solution (3 M, AR) was added in the SnCl4 solution with constant stirring to adjust the PH of the reaction solution to a value of 10. Ammonia solution was used as the complexing agent to form aqueous tin-ammonia complex ions ([Sn(NH3)4]4+), which were chosen for the cation precursor. Ultrathin SnO2 film deposition: The sulfurized CZTS absorber layers were dipped in the precursor solution at room temperature for 20 seconds. After air drying, the [Sn(NH3)4]4+-adsorbed CZTS layers were immersed in DI water at 90℃ for 5 seconds. The air-dried samples were ultrasonicated for 20 seconds and one SILAR cycle was counted. Several SILAR cycles were required to achieve the desired thicknesses. After the deposition, all SnO2-coated samples were air-annealed at 270 ℃ for 3 minutes. The growth rate (0.4 nm/cycle) was determined by the thickness measurement on hundreds of cycles of SILAR deposition via Veeco Dektak 8 Advanced Development Profiler. 1-3 cycles, equivalent to the thickness of 0.4 – 1.2 nm, were desired in this research to match the required thickness of around 1 nm and compare the performance of completed devices. CZTS solar cell devices fabrication: The schema of device structure is shown in Figure 1 with the emphasized position of SnO2. The typical methods and processes

4 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 4 of 27

Page 5 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

for the device fabrication employed in this study have been described in our previous publication.

11

CZTS absorbers were fabricated by co-sputtering Cu, ZnS and SnS

precursors on Mo-coated soda lime glass via magnetron sputtering (AJA International, Inc., model ATC-2200) with average composition of Cu-poor and Zn-rich (Cu/Sn = 1.8, Zn/Sn = 1.2), followed by sulfurization at 560℃ in a combined sulfur and SnS atmosphere. Ultra-thin SnO2 layers were synthesized on these sulfurized CZTS surfaces by the SILAR method, followed by air-annealing at 250℃ for 3 minutes. 50 nm CdS buffer layers were then prepared by a chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. 60 nm i-ZnO and 200 nm indium tin oxide (ITO) as window layers were coated sequentially using RF magnetron sputtering. Aluminium fingers were fabricated on the top of the ITO by thermal evaporation to form the front contact. The total area of the unit cell was defined by mechanical scribing to approach 0.24 cm2. The CZTS devices were finalized with a thermally evaporated MgF2 antireflection coating. Films and devices characterizations: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to confirm the formation and chemical states of the ultra-thin SnO2 layer using an ESCALAB250Xi (Thermo Scientific, UK) under ultra-high vacuum (lower than 2 × 10-9 mbar). Optical transmittance of the fabricated SnO2 layer on glass substrates was measured via UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer (Perkin Elmer – Lambda 950). For device characterization, the current density–voltage (J-V) curves were tested using a simulator (Newport) with AM 1.5 illumination and 1000 W/m2 intensity calibrated with a standard silicon reference cell. External quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements were performed by a QEX10 spectral response system (PV Measurements, Inc.), using a monochromatic light chopped at a frequency of 120 Hz. For the capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement, an impedance analyzer was used 5 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 6 of 27

with a frequency at 100 Hz and a DC bias voltage sweeping from -1.5V to 0.5V. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) characterizations were carried out applying the time-correlated single photon counting technique (MicroTime 200, PicoQuant) exploiting a laser source of 470 nm wavelength and 20 MHz pulse with tunable repetition for excitation. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 2 exhibits the XPS spectra of three different samples: a SnO2 film (~4 nm) on a CZTS absorber, a SnO2 film (~40 nm) on a quartz substrate and a CZTS absorber only. Since the detection depth for XPS measurement can reach up to 10 nm, two distinctive binding energy peaks for Sn 3d5 were observed, shown in Figure 2(a) by fitting the measured XPS spectra for SnO2 film on CZTS absorber sample. The peaks at 486.4 eV

21-23

and 487.2 eV

24-25

represent the binding energies of Sn-S and Sn-O

bonds respectively, which are further confirmed by XPS measurements for SnO2 film on quartz and for CZTS absorber as shown in Figure 2(b) and 2(c), respectively. The formation of SnO2 on the surface of CZTS absorber using the SILAR method is conclusively demonstrated from the presence of Sn-O bonds. To investigate the electrical properties of SnO2 at the CdS/SnO2/CZTS heterointerface, the overall heterojunction band diagram is estimated from the reported CZTS/CdS conduction band offset (CBO)

26-28

, the CBO of CdS/SnO2

18, 29

,

electron affinities of CZTS and SnO2 30-33 and the measured band gap of SnO2. The derivation and calculation of the SnO2 bandgap can be seen in the Supporting Information (See Figure S1). The CBO between CZTS and SnO2 can be readily calculated as 0~0.2 eV employing a band gap value of CZTS of 1.5 eV, revealing a “spike”-like CBO of the heterojunction interface. The schematic diagram is depicted in Figure 3(a). A cliff-like conduction band offset at the CZTS/CdS interface is 6 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 7 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

known to deteriorate Voc by the trap state-assisted recombination.

34

Therefore, the

optimized conduction band alignment contributes to the reduced interface recombination stemming from trap states. In consideration of -2~-2.2 eV valence band offset (VBO), the tin oxide film can also act as an electron-selective contact for CZTS to passivate the interface by blocking holes away from the buffer layer. Figure 3(b) illustrates the current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the CZTS devices with SnO2 intermediate layers in different thickness between CZTS absorber and CdS buffer layer. Electric parameters are collected and displayed in Table 1, showing the rise of the device efficiency from 6.82% to 8.47%. The improved performance is mainly contributed by the significant boost of fill factor (FF) from 52.4% to 62.8% and the improvement of Voc from 638 mV to 657 mV, both stemming from the doubling of shunt resistance (Rsh) and the alleviation of interface recombination. The rise of Rsh can be reasonably explained as the existence of a resistive SnO2 intermediate layer, to some extent, quenches the undesired current drains via shunt pathways, which are possibly induced by a series of factors, including surface pin holes,

35

voids,

36

and cracks with high aspect ratios,

37

local small grain

size, 38 CZTS roughness, secondary phases, etc. Pin holes, in particular, are generally found in the CZTS absorber surfaces, likely induced by the decomposition of CZTS, without the application of Al2O3 rear surface intermediate layer.

39

Moreover, the

direct evidence for the diminution of interface recombination was furnished from the time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements on finished CZTS devices with 470 nm laser excitation, which is generally used for measuring the lifetime at the heterointerface and CZTS surface region. Using the biexponential function model fitting described by B. Ohnesorge et al, 40 the values of carrier lifetime in the vicinity of the heterointerface for devices with and without SnO2 were obtained from the 7 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Page 8 of 27

decay profiles showing an improvement from 5.0 ns to 7.4 ns upon introducing the SnO2 intermediate layer, as shown in Figure 4(a). Apart from the lifetime promotion, the dramatic decrease of reverse saturation current density, J02 and ideality factor, A2 for diode 2 while J01 and A1 for diode 1 remain relatively stable (Figure 4(b) & 4(c)) further affirm the effectiveness of heterojunction passivation. These parameters were acquired from J-V Curves fitting by using the double-diode model.

41-42

The term J02

compensates the recombination loss in the depletion region and n02 indicates the differential mechanisms for moving carriers across the heterojunction. For junction recombination dominant devices, using the double-diode model shows more credible match with the experimental results by setting n01 ≥ 1 and n02 ≥ 2.

43

The

optimization of the heterointerface performance could be reasonably attributed to the passivation of surface defect states, optimization of band alignments and thereby, reducing the overall interface recombination. Furthermore, our experiments revealed that device with thicker SnO2 demonstrates inferior device performances: although Voc continues increasing with higher SnO2 thickness to some extent, the performance suffers from remarkably lower Jsc which stems from the thicker SnO2 with greater resistivity. Since Voc improves with higher Rsh and slightly lower J02 and A2, the reduced shunting problem and the lower recombination rate could be the reasons for Voc improvement. As thicker SnO2 deposited at the heterojunction by repeating more SILAR deposition cycles, the rapidly-increased Rs dominates the FF decrease, resulting in a poorer efficiency. Moreover, it is reasonably anticipated that Voc would reach a limit when passivation effect would not improve with the thickness of SnO2 intermediate layer. However, the determination of the optimal SnO2 thickness requires extra study for SnO2 passivation layer optimization. SnO2 layer with around 1 nm thickness would supply sufficient passivation effect for this study since the aim of this

8 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 9 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

study is placed on the passivation effects and other roles of SnO2 between CdS and CZTS rather than peak efficiency. Figure 5(a) shows the EQE curves of CZTS devices with SnO2 intermediate layers in different thickness between CZTS absorber and CdS buffer layer. It is observed that the short wavelength optical response is improved. Such EQE enhancement in blue region is believed to result from a slightly thinner CdS buffer layer in the case of CZTS devices with SnO2 intermediate layer. As CdS buffer layers in all devices were deposited in the same batch, it is supposed that the growth rate of CdS on SnO2 matrix is lower than that on CZTS absorber, the latter likely with epitaxial growth of CdS due to their similar cubic lattice structure.

44

The variation of CdS growth rate is

confirmed by TEM (see Figure S2) where the thickness of CdS decreases from 52 nm for device without SnO2 intermediate layer to 44 nm for device with 1.2 nm tin oxide intermediate layer. The introduction of the SnO2 intermediate layer seems to allow the reduction in parasitic absorption by reducing the CdS thickness without sacrificing shunt resistance. Figure 5(b) shows the doping profiles which are determined from the capacitancevoltage (C-V) measurement for CZTS devices with SnO2 in different thickness between CZTS absorber and CdS buffer layer, tested on the finished devices. The doping profiles display a decrease in depletion width from 241 nm to 196 nm by employing a SnO2 film. During the CBD process for reference CZTS devices, Cd tends to occupy Cu vacancy sites for Cu-depleted CZTS surface to form CdCu+ donor sites.

44-45

Hence a convincing assumption could be made that the ultra-thin stannic

oxide layer forms an impediment to the interaction between CZTS and CdS, such as Cd diffusion, giving rise to a shrunken depletion width. SnO2 has been reported for this similar behavior as a diffusion barrier to prevent Zn diffusion from Zn(O,S):N 9 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

buffer into SnS absorber in SnS solar cells.

17

Narrower depletion width results in a

weaker near-infrared (NIR) response (refer to Figure 5(a)), which could explain why Jsc remains unchanged at ~20 mA/cm2 albeit the short wavelength optical response enhances significantly, contributed by a thinner CdS buffer layer deposited on SnO2 intermediate layers. Moreover, the additional resistive intermediate layer would increase the series resistance as another factor to limit Jsc, although it improves the charge separation by hole blocking and passivates interface defects. 4. CONCLUSION We have employed ultra-thin SnO2 film as an intermediate layer between the CdS buffer and CZTS absorber layers to enhance the overall device performance. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate that the boost of FF and the rise of Voc are mainly attributed to the passivation of CdS/CZTS heterointerface. The SnO2 layer can also optimize the conduction band alignment and block holes away from the heterojunction. Overall, the implementation of ultra-thin SnO2 film effectively promotes the efficiency without sacrificing other parameters. With the aid of this shunt-blocking layer, the CdS buffer thickness can be further minimized to reduce the parasitic absorption and thereupon obtaining higher Jsc for the future research. Furthermore, the SnO2 layer inserted between CZTS and CdS would also be used as a protective layer against the mechanical damage that may occur during the buffer deposition via some vacuum methods. The application of an intrinsic stannic oxide film provides a roadmap of, interface passivation, both conduction and valence bands alignments optimization, shunt blocking and wider range of accessible buffer deposition methods. Post-annealing after CdS deposition is under investigation for addressing the issue of depletion region narrowing. ASSOCIATED CONTENT 10 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 10 of 27

Page 11 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

S: Supporting Information Cross-sectional CZTS/CdS interface TEM images with or without 1.2 nm SnO2 layer and the bandgap value derivation including Tauc Plot. The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at DOI: AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author *Email: [email protected]. [email protected] Author Contributions H.S and K.S contributed equally to this work. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript. Funding Financial support from Baosteel, the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship Notes The authors declare no competing financial interest. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported under the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Australian Research Council (ARC). Responsibility for the views, information or advice expressed herein is not accepted

11 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

by the Australian Government. The authors also acknowledge the facilities, the scientific and the technical assistance of the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The authors acknowledge use of the facilities in the Electron Microscopy Centre at University of Wollongong and the assistance of David Mitchell and Gilberto Casillas Garcia. REFERENCES (1) Lewis, N. S.; Nocera, D. G. Powering the planet: Chemical challenges in solar energy utilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2006, 103, 15729-15735. (2) Green, M. A.; Hishikawa, Y.; Warta, W.; Dunlop, E. D.; Levi, D. H.; Hohl‐ Ebinger, J.; Ho‐Baillie, A. W. Solar cell efficiency tables (version 50). Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications 2017, 25, 668-676. (3) Wadia, C.; Alivisatos, A. P.; Kammen, D. M. Materials availability expands the opportunity for large-scale photovoltaics deployment. Environmental science & technology 2009, 43, 2072-2077. (4) Yin, L.; Cheng, G.; Feng, Y.; Li, Z.; Yang, C.; Xiao, X. Limitation factors for the performance of kesterite Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 thin film solar cells studied by defect characterization. Rsc Advances 2015, 5, 40369-40374. (5) Gunawan, O.; Todorov, T. K.; Mitzi, D. B. Loss mechanisms in hydrazineprocessed Cu 2 ZnSn (Se, S) 4 solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2010, 97, 233506. (6) Li, J.; Mitzi, D. B.; Shenoy, V. B. Structure and electronic properties of grain boundaries in earth-abundant photovoltaic absorber Cu2ZnSnSe4. ACS nano 2011, 5, 8613-8619. (7) Meril, M.; Sudha Kartha, C. Engineering the properties of indium sulfide for thin film solar cells by doping. Cochin University of Science & Technology, 2009. (8) Courel, M.; Andrade-Arvizu, J.; Vigil-Galán, O. Loss mechanisms influence on Cu 2 ZnSnS 4/CdS-based thin film solar cell performance. Solid-State Electronics 2015, 111, 243-250. (9) Yan, C.; Liu, F.; Song, N.; Ng, B. K.; Stride, J. A.; Tadich, A.; Hao, X. Band alignments of different buffer layers (CdS, Zn (O, S), and In2S3) on Cu2ZnSnS4. Applied Physics Letters 2014, 104, 173901. (10) Crovetto, A.; Yan, C.; Iandolo, B.; Zhou, F.; Stride, J.; Schou, J.; Hao, X.; Hansen, O. Lattice-matched Cu2ZnSnS4/CeO2 solar cell with open circuit voltage boost. Applied Physics Letters 2016, 109, 233904. (11) Sun, K.; Yan, C.; Liu, F.; Huang, J.; Zhou, F.; Stride, J. A.; Green, M.; Hao, X. Over 9% efficient kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cell fabricated by using Zn1–xCdxS buffer layer. Advanced Energy Materials 2016, 6. (12) Herz, K.; Eicke, A.; Kessler, F.; Wächter, R.; Powalla, M. Diffusion barriers for CIGS solar cells on metallic substrates. Thin Solid Films 2003, 431, 392-397. (13) Hsu, W.-W.; Chen, J.; Cheng, T.-H.; Lu, S.; Ho, W.-S.; Chen, Y.-Y.; Chien, Y.-J.; Liu, C. Surface passivation of Cu (In, Ga) Se2 using atomic layer deposited Al2O3. Applied Physics Letters 2012, 100, 023508. 12 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 12 of 27

Page 13 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

(14) Lee, Y. S.; Gershon, T.; Todorov, T. K.; Wang, W.; Winkler, M. T.; Hopstaken, M.; Gunawan, O.; Kim, J. Atomic Layer Deposited Aluminum Oxide for Interface Passivation of Cu2ZnSn (S, Se) 4 Thin‐Film Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials 2016, 6. (15) Erkan, M. E.; Chawla, V.; Scarpulla, M. A. Reduced defect density at the CZTSSe/CdS interface by atomic layer deposition of Al2O3. Journal of Applied Physics 2016, 119, 194504. (16) Wu, W.; Cao, Y.; Caspar, J. V.; Guo, Q.; Johnson, L. K.; Mclean, R. S.; Malajovich, I.; Choudhury, K. R. Characterization of CZTSSe photovoltaic device with an atomic layer-deposited passivation layer. Applied Physics Letters 2014, 105, 042108. (17) Sinsermsuksakul, P.; Sun, L.; Lee, S. W.; Park, H. H.; Kim, S. B.; Yang, C.; Gordon, R. G. Overcoming Efficiency Limitations of SnS‐Based Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials 2014, 4. (18) Sardashti, K.; Haight, R.; Gokmen, T.; Wang, W.; Chang, L. Y.; Mitzi, D. B.; Kummel, A. C. Impact of Nanoscale Elemental Distribution in High‐Performance Kesterite Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials 2015, 5. (19) Chambers, B. A.; MacDonald, B. I.; Ionescu, M.; Deslandes, A.; Quinton, J. S.; Jasieniak, J. J.; Andersson, G. G. Examining the role of ultra-thin atomic layer deposited metal oxide barrier layers on CdTe/ITO interface stability during the fabrication of solution processed nanocrystalline solar cells. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2014, 125, 164-169. (20) Yıldırım, M. A.; Akaltun, Y.; Ateş, A. Characteristics of SnO 2 thin films prepared by SILAR. Solid State Sciences 2012, 14, 1282-1288. (21) Hurtado, M.; Cruz, S.; Becerra, R.; Calderón, C.; Bartolo-Pérez, P.; Gordillo, G. In XPS analysis and structural characterization of CZTS thin films prepared using solution and vacuum based deposition techniques, Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th, IEEE: 2014; pp 0368-0372. (22) Morales12, M. F. H. XPS study for CZTS thin films growth by PVD coevaporation method. Elementos recibirá artículos escritos principalmente por docentes, investigado-res, empresarios, investigadores externos (nacionales y extranjeros) y semilleros de investigación, quienes aportarán a los campos de conocimiento de la Ingeniería y Ciencias Básicas., 87. (23) Dang, W.; Ren, X.; Zi, W.; Jia, L.; Liu, S. F. Composition controlled preparation of Cu–Zn–Sn precursor films for Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 solar cells using pulsed electrodeposition. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2015, 650, 1-7. (24) Süzer, Ş.; Voscoboinikov, T.; Hallam, K. R.; Allen, G. C. Electron spectroscopic investigation of Sn coatings on glasses. Fresenius' journal of analytical chemistry 1996, 355, 654-656. (25) Di Giulio, M.; Micocci, G.; Serra, A.; Tepore, A.; Rella, R.; Siciliano, P. SnO2 thin films for gas sensor prepared by rf reactive sputtering. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 1995, 25, 465-468. (26) Bär, M.; Schubert, B.-A.; Marsen, B.; Wilks, R. G.; Pookpanratana, S.; Blum, M.; Krause, S.; Unold, T.; Yang, W.; Weinhardt, L. Cliff-like conduction band offset and KCN-induced recombination barrier enhancement at the CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 thinfilm solar cell heterojunction. Applied Physics Letters 2011, 99, 222105. (27) Santoni, A.; Biccari, F.; Malerba, C.; Valentini, M.; Chierchia, R.; Mittiga, A. Valence band offset at the CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 interface probed by x-ray

13 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

photoelectron spectroscopy. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 2013, 46, 175101. (28) Ericson, T.; Scragg, J. J.; Hultqvist, A.; Watjen, J. T.; Szaniawski, P.; Torndahl, T.; Platzer-Bjorkman, C. Zn (O, S) Buffer Layers and Thickness Variations of CdS Buffer for Cu $ _ {2} $ ZnSnS $ _ {4} $ Solar Cells. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 2014, 4, 465-469. (29) Fritsche, J.; Kraft, D.; Thißen, A.; Mayer, T.; Klein, A.; Jaegermann, W. Band energy diagram of CdTe thin film solar cells. Thin Solid Films 2002, 403, 252-257. (30) Repins, I.; Vora, N.; Beall, C.; Wei, S.-H.; Yan, Y.; Romero, M.; Teeter, G.; Du, H.; To, B.; Young, M. Kesterites and chalcopyrites: a comparison of close cousins. MRS Online Proceedings Library Archive 2011, 1324. (31) Islam, M.; Hakim, M. Electron affinity and work function of polycrystalline SnO 2 thin film. Journal of materials science letters 1986, 5, 63-65. (32) Ge, J.; Chu, J.; Jiang, J.; Yan, Y.; Yang, P. Characteristics of In-substituted CZTS thin film and bifacial solar cell. ACS applied materials & interfaces 2014, 6, 21118-21130. (33) Olopade, M.; Oyebola, O.; Adeleke, B. Investigation of some materials as buffer layer in copper zinc tin sulphide (Cu2ZnSnS4) solar cells by SCAPS-1D. Advances in Applied Science Research 2012, 3, 3396-3400. (34) Minemoto, T.; Matsui, T.; Takakura, H.; Hamakawa, Y.; Negami, T.; Hashimoto, Y.; Uenoyama, T.; Kitagawa, M. Theoretical analysis of the effect of conduction band offset of window/CIS layers on performance of CIS solar cells using device simulation. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2001, 67, 83-88. (35) Sun, K.; Liu, F.; Yan, C.; Zhou, F.; Huang, J.; Shen, Y.; Liu, R.; Hao, X. Influence of sodium incorporation on kesterite Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 solar cells fabricated on stainless steel substrates. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2016, 157, 565571. (36) Cui, H.; Lee, C.-Y.; Li, W.; Liu, X.; Wen, X.; Hao, X. Improving efficiency of evaporated Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cells by a thin Ag intermediate layer between absorber and back contact. International Journal of Photoenergy 2015, 2015. (37) Steinmann, V.; Chakraborty, R.; Rekemeyer, P. H.; Hartman, K.; Brandt, R. E.; Polizzotti, A.; Yang, C.; Moriarty, T.; Gradeč ak, S.; Gordon, R. G. A Two-Step Absorber Deposition Approach To Overcome Shunt Losses in Thin-Film Solar Cells: Using Tin Sulfide as a Proof-of-Concept Material System. ACS applied materials & interfaces 2016, 8, 22664-22670. (38) Tao, J.; Zhang, K.; Zhang, C.; Chen, L.; Cao, H.; Liu, J.; Jiang, J.; Sun, L.; Yang, P.; Chu, J. A sputtered CdS buffer layer for co-electrodeposited Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 solar cells with 6.6% efficiency. Chemical Communications 2015, 51, 10337-10340. (39) Liu, F.; Huang, J.; Sun, K.; Yan, C.; Shen, Y.; Park, J.; Pu, A.; Zhou, F.; Liu, X.; Stride, J. A. Beyond 8% ultrathin kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 solar cells by interface reaction route controlling and self-organized nanopattern at the back contact. NPG Asia Materials 2017, 9, e401. (40) Ohnesorge, B.; Weigand, R.; Bacher, G.; Forchel, A.; Riedl, W.; Karg, F. Minority-carrier lifetime and efficiency of Cu (In, Ga) Se 2 solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 1998, 73, 1224-1226. (41) Chan, D. S.; Phang, J. C. Analytical methods for the extraction of solar-cell single-and double-diode model parameters from IV characteristics. IEEE Transactions on Electron devices 1987, 34, 286-293. 14 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 14 of 27

Page 15 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

(42) Ishaque, K.; Salam, Z.; Taheri, H. Simple, fast and accurate two-diode model for photovoltaic modules. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2011, 95, 586594. (43) Humada, A. M.; Hojabri, M.; Mekhilef, S.; Hamada, H. M. Solar cell parameters extraction based on single and double-diode models: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2016, 56, 494-509. (44) Liu, F.; Yan, C.; Huang, J.; Sun, K.; Zhou, F.; Stride, J. A.; Green, M. A.; Hao, X. Nanoscale Microstructure and Chemistry of Cu2ZnSnS4/CdS Interface in Kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials 2016, 6. (45) Maeda, T.; Nakamura, S.; Wada, T. First-principles study on Cd doping in Cu2ZnSnS4 and Cu2ZnSnSe4. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2012, 51, 10NC11.

Table 1. Overview of CZTS device performance of reference CZTS device and devices with

SnO2 intermediate layer in different thickness. SnO2 Thickness (nm)

ƞ (%)

Voc (mV)

Jsc (mA/cm2)

FF (%)

Rs (Ω cm2)

Rsh (Ω cm2)

0 0.4 0.8 1.2

6.82 7.01 8.16 8.47

638 637 648 657

20.4 19.3 20.4 20.5

52.4 57.0 61.7 62.8

1.13 1.13 0.89 0.70

163 312 315 319

15 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 1. Schema of device structures with details of CdS/SnO2/CZTS heterojunctions (not to scale).

16 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 16 of 27

Page 17 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 2. (a) XPS spectra of SILAR- SnO2 (10 cycles) on CZTS absorber surface; (b) XPS spectra of SILAR-SnO2 for 100 cycles on quartz; (c) XPS spectra of as grown CZTS after sulfurization.

17 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

(a)

(b)

18 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 18 of 27

Page 19 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

Figure 3. (a) Schematic band diagrams of the CZTS/SnO2/CdS heterojunctions; (b) J-V characteristics of reference CZTS device and CZTS devices with SnO2 intermediate layer in different thickness.

Figure 4. (a) TRPL transient of reference CZTS device and the device with a 1.2 nm SnO2 at the CZTS/CdS heterointerface, with 470 nm excitation wavelength. Double-diode model obtained via J-V curves fitting: (b) Reverse saturation current densities; (c) Ideality factors.

19 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 5. (a) EQE of the same devices shown in the JV characteristics. (b) Doping profiles for the reference CZTS device and the device with 1.2 nm SnO2 from C-V measurement at 100 Hz frequency.

20 ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 20 of 27

Page 21 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

2278x964mm (96 x 96 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 1. Schematic of device structures with details of CdS/SnO2/CZTS heterojunctions (not to scale). 1097x772mm (96 x 96 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 22 of 27

Page 23 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

Figure 2. (a) XPS spectra of SILAR- SnO2 (10 cycles) on CZTS absorber surface; (b) XPS spectra of SILARSnO2 for 100 cycles on quartz; (c) XPS spectra of as grown CZTS after sulfurization. 119x99mm (600 x 600 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 3. (a) Schematic band diagrams of the CZTS/ SnO2/CdS heterojunctions; (b) J-V characteristics of reference CZTS device and CZTS devices with SnO2 intermediate layer in different thickness. 165x257mm (600 x 600 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 24 of 27

Page 25 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

Table 1. Overview of CZTS device performance of reference CZTS device and devices with SnO2 intermediate layer in different thickness. 279x73mm (96 x 96 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

Figure 4. (a) TRPL transient of reference CZTS device and the device with a 1.2 nm SnO2 at the CZTS/CdS heterointerface, with 470 nm excitation wavelength. Double-diode model obtained via J-V curves fitting: (b) Reverse saturation current densities; (c) Ideality factors. 119x99mm (600 x 600 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment

Page 26 of 27

Page 27 of 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60

ACS Applied Energy Materials

Figure 5. (a) EQE of the same devices shown in the JV characteristics. (b) Doping profiles for the reference CZTS device and the device with 1.2 nm SnO2 from C-V measurement at 100 Hz frequency. 145x181mm (600 x 600 DPI)

ACS Paragon Plus Environment