LAUSR

Renewable energy sources, and solar energy in particular, are a high impact research topic in the push for sustainable, long-term energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is one of the attractive, cost-effective materials that meets these needs. The quaternary nature makes the structure prone to defects and crystal alignment disorder. Some of these defects create advantageous electronic effects through antisite substitutions of Zn for Cu, . Others such as Sn for Zn replacements are detrimental. Synchrotron-based X-ray absorbance fine structure (XAFS) analysis was used to identify specific patterns in the antisite contributions to the structure of low-cost CZTS films that produced the highest photoresponse in each of our samples. Correlations were found between the Cu/(Zn + Sn) ratio and advantageous antisite formations, though at the cost of increased alignment disorder. Similarly, the Zn/Sn ratio showed relationships between both advantageous and disadvantageous antisite and vacancy pairs. V...