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Alternative Uses of CZTS Thin Films for Energy Harvesting

The search for renewable energy resources and ways to harvest them has become a global mainstream topic among researchers nowadays, with solar cells and thermoelectric generators among the energy
harvesting technologies currently being researched in vast. CZTS (Cu2ZnSnS4), a p-type semiconducting material initially researched to replace copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) as the light absorbing
layer in thin film solar cells, was studied in this doctoral work for alternative uses in energy harvesting. This work aims to systemically investigate the prospects of CZTS to be used as hole transport layers
and thermoelectric generators. CZTS thin film was successfully fabricated using a versatile approach involving hot-injection synthesis of CZTS nanoparticles ink followed by spin coating and thermal treatment. Results obtained revealed the possibility to fine control CZTS thin film fabrication based on ink concentration and spin. Besides that, thermal treatment temperature was found to affect the film’s overall properties, where an increase in thermal treatment temperature improved the degree of crystallinity and electrical properties. In addition, a phase change going from less stable cubic and wurtzite structures to a more stable tetragonal structure was also observed. Furthermore, CZTS was found to be a good candidate to replace the commonly used organic hole transport layer in perovskite solar cells, with potentials in improving performance and stability. In addition, CZTS also possessed good transport properties to be a potential p-type material in a thermoelectric generator, with the preliminary performance of fabricated CZTS/AZO thermoelectric generator showing a maximum power output of ~350 nW at ~170 KΔT. These findings provide new perspectives for CZTS in energy harvesting applications, despite the struggle in its development as the absorber layer in thin film solar cells. Besides providing a deeper understanding of CZTS and its vast possibilities in energy harvesting applications, promising future research stemming from this work is also limitless, reinventing ways in material studies, in search of alternative applications which may be of benefit.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unitn.it/oai:iris.unitn.it:11572/315176
Date07 September 2021
CreatorsMustaffa, Muhammad Ubaidah Syafiq
ContributorsMustaffa, Muhammad Ubaidah Syafiq, Scardi, Paolo, Ataollahi, Narges
PublisherUniversità degli studi di Trento, place:TRENTO
Source SetsUniversità di Trento
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Relationfirstpage:1, lastpage:111, numberofpages:111

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