Photonic sintering of thin film prepared by dodecylamine capped CuInxGa1 − xSe2 nanoparticles for printed photovoltaics

• Large scale synthesis of CuInxGa1 − xSe2 (CIGS) is reported.
• Dodecylamine is used as surfactant and solvent.
• CIGS phase formation mechanism is described.
• High intensity pulsed light technique is used to sinter the CIGS film.

In this paper, we report solution phase large scale synthesis of monodisperse phase pure CuInxGa1 − xSe2 (CIGS) nanoparticles by using dodecylamine as solvent and dispersant. Various compositions of CIGS nanoparticles with different Ga content are synthesized by simply adding different amounts of Ga precursors. The band gap of CIGS nanoparticles can be tuned by changing Ga content. Effort is given to understand the formation pathway of CIGS phase so as to make the synthesis easier for the desired product. High intensity pulsed light technique, which provides extreme local heating, is used to sinter the thin film prepared using these nanoparticles on a Mo–glass surface. A uniformly conductive and dense CIGS film can be prepared by adjusting the energy of light and exposure time. The high intensity light irradiation of the CIGS film leads to diffusion of smaller CIGS nanoparticles to form a particle with larger grain size and thus enables sintering of particles without using high temperature processing.