Co-electrodeposition of metallic precursors for the fabrication of CZTSe thin films solar cells on flexible Mo foil

Earth abundant Cu2ZnSnSe4(CZTSe) thin films solar cells were fabricated on flexible molybdenum (Mo) foil substrate through an electrochemical approach. After co-electroplating from single electrolyte, Cu-Zn-Sn (CZT) precursor was selenized in quartz tube furnace at 550◦C for 15 minutes in Ar atmosphere with the presence of elemental selenium in order to form CZTSe compound. Before selenization, CZT precursor was soft-annealed at 310◦C for 150 minutes in Ar atmosphere in order to improve intermixing of the elements and to reduce roughness. The formation of Kesterite CZTSe on selenized film was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. SEM imaging and EDS line profile on the cross-section of CZTSe layer showed the well-formed CZTSe along depth of the film also. Opto-electrical characteristics of the film by photoluminescence spectroscopy confirmed the suitability of the absorber layer to make solar cell. A flexible solar cell with Al/Al-ZnO/i-ZnO/CdS/CZTSe/Mo-foil configuration, which showed 0.1% power conversion efficiency at first attempt, has been fabricated, in which buffer layer CdS has been deposited through chemical bath deposition and transparent conducting oxides (i-ZnO, Al-ZnO) have been deposited by DC pulsed sputtering.