Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Raman and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic Study of Aqueous Thiol-Capped Ag-Zn-Sn-S Nanocrystals

Volodymyr Dzhagan
ORCID logo ,
Oleksandr Selyshchev
ORCID logo ,
Yevhenii Havriliuk
,
Nazar Mazur
ORCID logo ,
Oleksandra Raievska
,
Oleksandr Stroyuk
,
Serhiy Kondratenko
,
Alexander Litvinchuk
,
Mikhailo Valakh
,
Dietrich R.T. Zahn
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 28 May 2021 / Approved: 31 May 2021 / Online: 31 May 2021 (08:33:21 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Dzhagan, V.; Selyshchev, O.; Havryliuk, Y.; Mazur, N.; Raievska, O.; Stroyuk, O.; Kondratenko, S.; Litvinchuk, A.P.; Valakh, M.Y.; Zahn, D.R. Raman and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic Study of Aqueous Thiol-Capped Ag-Zn-Sn-S Nanocrystals. Materials 2021, 14, 3593. Dzhagan, V.; Selyshchev, O.; Havryliuk, Y.; Mazur, N.; Raievska, O.; Stroyuk, O.; Kondratenko, S.; Litvinchuk, A.P.; Valakh, M.Y.; Zahn, D.R. Raman and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic Study of Aqueous Thiol-Capped Ag-Zn-Sn-S Nanocrystals. Materials 2021, 14, 3593.

Abstract

The variation of the cationic composition in I2-II-IV-VI4 semiconductor compounds is an effective tool for altering their properties in a controlled manner. In particular, a partial substitution of Cu for Ag in kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 was proposed to suppress Cu-Zn antisite defects and the improve photovoltaic performance. However, the efficiency of this approach may substantially depend on the fabrication route. Here, we report on the synthesis of (Cu,Ag)-Zn-Sn-S (CAZTS) and Ag-Zn-Sn-S (AZTS) nanocrystals (NCs) by means of "green" chemistry in aqueous solution and their detailed characterization by Raman spectroscopy and by several complementary techniques. Through a systematic variation of the nominal composition and quantification of the constituent elements in CAZTS and AZTS NCs by XPS, we identified the vibrational Raman and IR fingerprints of both the main AZTS phase and secondary phases of Ag-Zn-S and Ag-Sn-S compounds (for the first time). The formation of the secondary phases of Ag-S and Ag-Zn-S cannot be avoided entirely for this type of synthesis. The Ag-Zn-S phase, having its bandgap in near infrared range, is the reason of the non-monotonous dependence of the absorption edge of CAZTS NCs on the Ag content, with a trend to redshift even below the bandgaps of bulk AZTS and CZTS.

Keywords

colloidal nanocrystals; Ag2ZnSnS4; phonons; Ag-Zn-S; Ag-Sn-S; non-stoichiometry; secondary phase; XPS; FTIR

Subject

Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanotechnology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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