Polylol-solution synthesis of CuInSe₂ nanoparticles ink for scalable solution-based thin film photovoltaic cells

ABSTRACT

A fast and facile ambient pressure solution chemical process was applied to grow chalcopyrite CuInSe₂ nanoparticles by using common and inexpensive polylol ethylene glycol(EG), diethylene glycol(DEG) and triethylene glycol(TEG) as solvent, copper(II) chloride, indium(III) chloride and selenium powder as precursors, hydrazine hydrate and ethylenediamine as reducing agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone as capping agent. The products synthesized were characterized by XRD, TEM, HRTEM, EDS and UV-vis measurements based on different solvents EG, DEG and TEG, refluxing temperature and time as well as PVP adding amounts. The well-dispersed and single-phase CuInSe₂ nanoparticles synthesized with TEG solvent were used to prepare nanoparticles colloidal ink by ultrasonically dispersing in absolute alcohol solvent and then deposit CuInSe₂ thin films by layer-by-layer dip-coating nanoparticles ink. The deposited thin films were annealed in Ar atmosphere at 550°C for 30 min. Photovoltaic test devices with Mo-coated glass/CuInSe₂/CdS/i-ZnO/AZO configuration were fabricated using the ink-coated and annealed CuInSe₂ light-absorbing thin films, and the corresponding I-V characteristics were evaluated.

KEYWORDS:

• CuInSe₂
• nanoparticles
• polylol
• well-dispersed
• thin films
• solar cells

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51402085), Nature Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. E2015202295 and B2016202213) and Nature Science Foundation of Tianjin City (No. 16JCYBJC17500).