Structural and optical properties of Cu2M (M: Zn, Fe, Co, Ni) SnSe4 nanoparticles synthesized via heating up method

Quaternary semiconductor Cu2M (M: Zn, Fe, Co, Ni) SnSe4 nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by one-step simple wet chemical heating up method. All samples display aggregated sphere-like with a range of 20-80 nm but in Cu2FeSnSe4 can be seen micrometer particles with hexagonal shape that EDS analysis confirm presence of CuSe. The Structure of Cu2ZnSnSe4, Cu2FeSnSe4, Cu2NiSnSe4 and Cu2CoSnSe4 are tetragonal kesterite, tetragonal stannite, similar to ZnSe wurtzite and resemble to ZnSe zinc blende respectively. The band gap energy of these samples was 1.27-1.69 eV that Cu2FeSnSe4 was greater value of band gap energy due to formation of CuSe in it. Broad, weak and asymmetric PL peaks for all samples indicate presence of defects that create centers of non-irradiative. Cu2M (M: Zn, Fe, Co, Ni) SnSe4 thin films show photoresponse behavior, indicating that these nanoparticles have a potential application in low cost thin film solar cells.