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...