Aging Precursor Solution in High Humidity Remarkably Promoted Grain Growth in Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Films

Earth-abundant Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a promising material for thin film solar cells or solar water splitting cells. Generally, large grain size and vertical penetration are highly desirable microstructures to high-efficiency solar conversion devices. Up to date, some kinds of vacuum methods have been used to prepare large grain-sized CZTS, which are expensive and limit their applications on a large scale. It is still a key challenge to prepare large-grained and vertical-penetration CZTS by a low-cost solution method. In this study, we obtained vertical-penetration CZTS thin film with 1.3 μm grain sizes by a faclie solution method. Different from previous studies, precursor solution was aged in high-humidity air before it was used to prepare CZTS films. The grain size prepared with aging precursor solution was one of the largest among the samples prepared by a solution method after sulfurizing. Moreover, the large-grained CZTS films were used as photocathodes for solar water splitting, which exhibited a much higher photocurrent than those of the samples without aging. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration to promote grain growth in CZTS by aging precursor solution in high-humidity air. This aging method can offer a reference to prepare other high-performance films.