A facile synthesis of a copper(i) thiourea sulphate complex and its application for highly efficient chalcopyrite solar cells

Abstract

The precursor compound plays a crucial role in the development of low-cost chalcogenide thin-film solar cells via a solution approach. In this work, we report on the synthesis of a new complex [Cu((NH₂)₂CS)₃]₂SO₄·H₂O through a simple redox reaction between inexpensive Cu(CH₃COO)₂·H₂O and thiourea (TU) in water. Using this complex as a copper source, a stable dimethylformamide solution was made and copper indium sulfoselenide CuIn(S,Se)₂ thin film solar cells with a high efficiency of 12.2% have been demonstrated.