A high temperature route to the formation of highly pure quaternary chalcogenide particles

M. Benchikri (1) , Oana Zaberca (2) , Rachida El Ouatib (1) , Bernard Durand (2) , Frédéric Oftinger (2) , Andrea Balocchi (3) , Jean-Yves Chane-Ching (2)

1 Laboratoire de Synthèse et de Caractérisation de Matériaux Inorganiques - LSCMI (Casablanca - Morocco)
2 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
3 LPCNO - Laboratoire de physique et chimie des nano-objets

A process route to the fabrication of quaternary chalcogenides (Cu2CoSnS4, Cu2ZnSnS4) particles is proposed in molten KSCN at 400 °C. This high temperature route allows the formation of highly pure and highly crystallized quaternary chalcogenides particles. Control of primary crystallites size is demonstrated by altering the chemical homogeneity of the precursors. This method could be exploited to prepare building blocks for the fabrication of low-cost solar cell absorbers.

Mots clés: Quaternary chalcogenides; Photovoltaics; Particles; Solar cells; Synthesis

Domaines: Matériaux; Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

M. Benchikri, Oana Zaberca, Rachida El Ouatib, Bernard Durand, Frédéric Oftinger, et al.. A high temperature route to the formation of highly pure quaternary chalcogenide particles. Materials Letters, 2012, vol. 68, pp. 340-343. ⟨10.1016/j.matlet.2011.10.105⟩. ⟨hal-00864099⟩