One-step diffusion membrane assisted CBD synthesis and characterization of Cu2SnS3 thin films

This paper present a novel method for growing thin films of Cu2SnS3 (CTS) using a solution-based chemical route consisting of simultaneous precipitation of Cu2-xS and SnS2 performed by diffusion membranes assisted CBD technique. Diffusion membranes are used to optimize the kinetic growth through a moderate control of the releasing metal into the solution. The conditions in terms of concentration of metal species, sulfide anion and temperature required for the precipitation of the Cu2SnS3 compound were determined through a study of chemical equilibrium of the system SnCl2, Na3C6H5O7 center dot 2H(2)O, CuCl2 and Na2S2O3 center dot 5H(2)O. These conditions were obtained solving the equilibrium equations with the help of the Visual MINTEQ 3.0 package, supported on the program MINTEQA2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the structural properties of the CTS films. Optical, morphological and electrical properties were also studied by spectral transmittance, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and resistivity vs temperature measurements. XRD and Raman measurements confirmed the formation of the Cu2SnS3 phase