Compositionally tunable structure and optical properties of Cu1.85(CdxZn1 − x)1.1SnS4.1 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) monograin powders

Cu1.85(CdxZn1 − x)1.1SnS4.1 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solutions were synthesized in the form of monograin powders and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements. From the XRD data, the lattice parameters for all powders were calculated. The XRD peaks were shifted linearly to the lower angle side with increasing cadmium content and the splitting of (220) peak appeared for the sample x = 0.4. With increasing the value of x from 0 to 0.4, a linear shift of the A1 Raman mode from 338 cm− 1 to 332 cm− 1, a shift of the PL band from 1.3 eV to 1.1 eV and the change of effective bandgap from 1.55 eV to 1.41 eV calculated from QE measurements were observed. Further increase in Cd content over x = 0.4 did not have a major impact to these parameters. We attributed this phenomenon to the phase transition from kesterite to stannite in the series of Cu1.85(CdxZn1 − x)1.1SnS4.1 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solutions.