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Recent progress in CZTS (CuZnSn sulfide) thin-film solar cells: a review

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Abstract

In the renewable energy sector, solar energy has emerged as a very abundant resource, which has its implementation from very large-scale industries to household uses. The market of solar cells has been monopolized by thick-film Silicon solar cells ever since its initial development. However, with recent advancements, thin film has become the preferred design for solar cells because of several upper hands it proved over the thick cells. CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide) and CdS (Cadmium Selenide) have shown tremendous performances in the thin-film sector. But with toxicity and cost factors, these cells are never that feasible. So, CZTS (CuZnSn Sulfide) which has come as a replacement for CIGS, has shown extraordinary photovoltaic nature with very high light absorption characteristics. Further, the constituents of CZTS are abundant in nature which reduces the cost involved. To enhance efficiency, numerous structural and material features have been experimentally modified. The single-junction CZTS solar cell, however, has yet to achieve an efficiency of more than 13%, despite numerous attempts. This article presents a thorough analysis of the advancements made and potential applications for the CZTS thin-film solar cell (TFSC). This manuscript outlines the development of the TFSC, the fabrication process, the design of the TFSC, the defects in the CZTS, and the potential use of the TFSC as a solar cell.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge CSIR Project (Grant No. 22(0830)/19/EMR-II) of Govt. of India and SERB sponsored Mathematical Research Impact Centric Support (MATRICS) Project (Grant no. MTR/2021/000370) for support.

Funding

Funding was supported by CSIR Project (Grant No. 22(0830)/19/EMR-II) of Govt. of India and SERB sponsored Mathematical Research Impact Centric Support (MATRICS) Project (Grant no. MTR/2021/000370).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Assam, 788010, India

    Rabin Paul, Shweta Shukla, Trupti Ranjan Lenka & Fazal Ahmed Talukdar

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, GLA University, Mathura, UP, 281406, India

    Vishal Goyal

  3. Centro Singular de Investigación en Tecnoloxías Intelixentes, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Nour El Islam Boukortt

  4. Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    P. Susthitha Menon

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The Authors contributions are as follows. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. RP: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Data curation, Writing—Original draft preparation. SS: Formal analysis, Data curation, Validation, Writing—Reviewing and Editing. TRL: Supervision, Visualization, Investigation, Writing- Reviewing and Editing. FAT: Supervision, Resources, Validation, Formal analysis, Project administration. VG: Resources, Project administration, Writing- Reviewing and Editing. NEIB: Validation, Formal analysis, Writing—Reviewing and Editing. PSM: Supervision, Formal analysis, Writing- Reviewing and Editing.

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Paul, R., Shukla, S., Lenka, T.R. et al. Recent progress in CZTS (CuZnSn sulfide) thin-film solar cells: a review. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 226 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-11983-0

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