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In present paper, a promising intermediate band (IB) material of CuGaS 2 thin films incorporating with titanium (Ti) have been successfully fabricated by a facile non-vacuum method. Binary sulfides used as raw material are firstly tried to fabricate Ti-substituted CuGaS 2 thin films via ball milling and spin-coating technique. The experimental measurements showed that the obtained Cu 2 Ga 1− x Ti x S 2 thin films are composed of chalcopyrite structure with well crystallinity. A slightly left shift of (1 1 2) diffraction peaks indicated the successful doping of Ti element. The Hall Effect measurement exhibited the carrier concentration raised obviously from 1.538 × 10 12 ( x = 0) to 1.134 × 10 13 cm −3 ( x = 0.06) with increasing of Ti doping concentration. More important, the UV–vis–NIR spectra exhibited a strong optical absorption in Ti-substituted CuGaS 2 films, which indicated the IBs were roughly formed in the films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Facile pyrolytic synthesis of copper zinc thin sulfide (Cu2ZnSnS4) thin films are first introduced into quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) for the counter electrode. The pore size of the pyrolytic synthesis Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films is from 100nm to 300nm, and its charge transfer resistance is 37.10Ω. The assembled QDSCs with the pyrolytic synthesis Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films give short circuit photocurrent density (J sc) of 13.33mAcm−2, open circuit voltage (V oc) of 0.52V, and fill factor (FF) of 0.45, corresponding to the photoelectric conversion efficiency (η) of 3.14%, while the QDSCs with platinized conducting glass give J sc of 13.38mAcm−2, V oc of 0.51V, and FF of 0.34, corresponding to the η of 2.32%. Because the pyrolysis procedure is a facile, low cost and vacuum-free process, and has the advantage of obtaining various porous microstructure thin films and allowing deposition over large areas, the pyrolytic synthesis Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films can be a promise alternative to the noble Pt counter electrode in QDSCs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]