Chemical synthesis of Cu2SnS3 (CTS) nanoparticles: A status review

Solar industry has received great attention due to its potential capability for satisfying the increasing energy needs. Efforts are being made to develop high power conversion efficient solar cells. High efficiency solar cells based on CdTe and CuInGaS2 (CIGS) quaternary chalcogenide compounds are costly and toxic. As a replacement for these costly and toxic compounds, earth abundant and nontoxic Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) compound was developed which showed promising application in solar cells. The commercialization of this compound is an issue as it is difficult to control the individual elemental composition and structure due to increased number of elements in the absorber compound. Hence, there is a great need to find the alternative material to address these issues. These compound semiconductors are replaced with environmental benign and low cost ternary Cu2SnS3 (CTS) compound wherein the constituent elements such as copper, tin and sulfur are earth abundant and nontoxic. CTS is an emerging candidate for solar application because of its favorable band gap and higher optical absorption coefficient. Solar cells based on nanoparticle synthesized CTS have shown good power conversion efficiency (PCE 3.66%) due to size confinement effect. This review focuses on the recent developments in CTS nanoparticle synthesis by various chemical methods. A brief overview of these methods including its advantages along with its working mechanism is discussed. The effect of various experimental parameters of these chemical methods on CTS synthesis is elaborated. The structural, electrical and optical properties of CTS have been outlined and its potential applications have been presented. Finally, the challenges involved in the CTS synthesis and the scope for further development are discussed.