title: Structural, optical and charge generation properties of chalcostibite and tetrahedrite copper antimony sulfide thin films prepared from metal xanthates.
abstract: Herein, we report on a solution based approach for the preparation of thin films of copper antimony sulfide, an emerging absorber material for third generation solar cells. In this work, copper and antimony xanthates are used as precursor materials for the formation of two different copper antimony sulfide phases: chalcostibite (CuSbS2) and tetrahedrite (Cu12Sb4S13). Both phases were thoroughly investigated regarding their structural and optical properties. Moreover, thin films of chalcostibite and tetrahedrite were prepared on mesoporous TiO2layers and photoinduced charge transfer in these metal sulfide/TiO2heterojunctions was studiedviatransient absorption spectroscopy. Photoinduced charge transfer was detected in both the chalcostibite as well as the tetrahedrite sample, which is an essential property in view of applying these materials as light-harvesting agents in semiconductor sensitized solar cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics , Imperial College London , Imperial College Road , London , SW7 2AZ , UK . Email: t.rath@imperial.ac.uk ; Email: s.a.haque@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rath
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics , Imperial College London , Imperial College Road , London , SW7 2AZ , UK . Email: t.rath@imperial.ac.uk ; Email: s.a.haque@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: MacLachlan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics , Imperial College London , Imperial College Road , London , SW7 2AZ , UK . Email: t.rath@imperial.ac.uk ; Email: s.a.haque@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics , Imperial College London , Imperial College Road , London , SW7 2AZ , UK . Email: t.rath@imperial.ac.uk ; Email: s.a.haque@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Saif A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Haque