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Effects of bending stress on structural and electrical properties of flexible CZTSSe thin film solar cells

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Abstract

The impact of bending stress on the structural and electrical properties of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) thin films was studied in this work. Bending stress caused macroscopic separation of CZTSSe grains and microscopic expansion of its lattice. The former resulted in the formation of defects and defect clusters on the grain surface, while the latter induced tensile inner stress within the film. After bending, the nanoscale electric fields near the grain boundaries changed to a dip-type structure, indicating an accumulation of negative charges. Based on changes in stress and potential, we inferred that these negative charges were primarily ZnSn defects. The performance of flexible CZTSSe devices deteriorated due to the combined effects of structural and electrical changes.

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Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61904088).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China

    Jinze Li & Jie Xu

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  1. Jinze Li
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  2. Jie Xu
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Contributions

JL contributed to the study conception, design and material preparation. Data collection and analysis were performed by JX. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jinze Li.

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Li, J., Xu, J. Effects of bending stress on structural and electrical properties of flexible CZTSSe thin film solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1628 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11031-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11031-3

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