Facile Growth of Cu(2)ZnSnS(4) Thin-Film by One-Step Pulsed Hybrid Electrophoretic and Electroplating Deposition

The use of costly and rare metals such as indium and gallium in Cu(In,Ga)Se(2) (CIGS) based solar cells has motivated research into the use of Cu(2)ZnSnS(4) (CZTS) as a suitable replacement due to its non-toxicity, abundance of compositional elements and excellent optical properties (1.5 eV direct band gap and absorption coefficient of ~10(4) cm(−1)). In this study, we demonstrate a one-step pulsed hybrid electrodeposition method (PHED), which combines electrophoretic and electroplating deposition to deposit uniform CZTS thin-films. Through careful analysis and optimization, we are able to demonstrate CZTS solar cells with the V(OC), J(SC), FF and η of 350 mV, 3.90 mA/cm(2), 0.43 and 0.59%, respectively.