Studies on structura optical and electrical properties of cu2sns3 and reduced graphene oxide cu2sns3 nanocomposites

Abstract

Development of sustainable alternate energy is undoubtedly a greatest challenge faced by the modern world. It is due to the emerging demand for energy and environmental concerns over the use of fossil fuels. Solar photovoltaics is most promising than other types of renewable energy sources because it is abundant and reliable. In order to make use of these energy devices, state of the art research on development of new and advanced combination of materials are highly needed. Nanomaterials have received overwhelming recognition from the researchers as it extended a novel platform for the development of new and appropriate materials that can deliver high power conversion efficiency. This thesis mainly focuses on the development of efficient, low cost absorber material synthesized through simple and cost effective method. Two types of materials are focused in this work, firstly on Cu2SnS3 (CTS) ternary semiconductor and the second part focuses on reduced graphene oxide - Cu2SnS3 (GCTS) composites. Enhancement of electrical and optical properties are investigated for pure CTS with secondary phases and GCTS composites. Graphene oxide synthesis was carried out at low temperature with modifications from standard routes. All the samples were prepared using simple solvothermal method. First work focused on finding the better solvent for synthesis of definite CTS nanoparticles. Based on those results, second work was carried out and optimization of shape and avoiding impurities was carried out by addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) with varying concentration. In the third work GCTS composites were synthesized without complexing agent and adding complexing agent. In order to find out the property changes by changing the CTS precursor concentration with constant grapheneconcentration, fourth work was carried out. All the prepared materials were thoroughly characterized using various techniques like powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray pho