Spray pyrolysis deposition and photoresponse of Cu2CdSnS4 thin films

•Cu2CdSnS4 thin films were deposited on glass via a chemical spray pyrolysis method.•Deposition in a wide substrate temperature range from 250 °C to 500 °C was allowed.•CCTS films exhibited an impurity-free stannite structure in polycrystalline nature.•CCTS films possessed the direct optical band gap between 1.38 eV and 1.49 eV.•CCTS films exhibit a notable enhancement in photocurrent versus dark-current.

Through the chemical spray pyrolysis technique, quaternary Cu2CdSnS4 semiconductor thin films were successfully deposited on glass slides within a wide substrate temperature range from 250 °C to 500 °C. Structures, morphologies, optical and photoresponse properties of the as-prepared Cu2CdSnS4 films were studied in details by using XRD, SEM, EDX, UV–vis, photoconductance measurements, etc. The films have the direct optical band gaps of 1.38–1.49 eV and exhibit the notable enhancement in photocurrent versus dark-current for several tens of times.