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Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin film solar cells become an interesting research topic due to some advantages of the CZTS thin film such as having nontoxic and abundant components, a low price and excellent optoelectronic properties. In this work, a solution-based preparation method was developed to fabricate a CZTS solar cell with a superstrate structure of FTO/TiO2/CdS/CZTS/P3HT/Cu by using mixed solvent. Nanocrystalline TiO2 porous thin film was used as the bottom layer for deposition of CZTS to increase the interfacial area of CZTS. To deposit CZTS inside the porous structure leading to a good contact of CZTS with porous TiO2 thin film, the CZTS precursor particle size is successfully regulated by changing the volume ratios of N,N-dimethylformamide and ethanol. More importantly, small size CZTS precursor particles can easily enter into the porous structure of nanocrystalline thin film leading to a good interfacial contact, which allowed the effective improvement of the light-to-electric conversion efficiency for the present superstrate CZTS solar cell. This work may provide a promising way for the design of high-efficient superstrate solar cells.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates for membrane-based gas separation due to their regular crystalline lattices with relatively well-defined pore structures. To date, the preparation of integrated MOF membranes grown on porous substrates is still a major challenge. Herein, a facile aggregation-based growth method is developed to prepare a Co-MOF-74 (referred to as Co2(dobdc), H4dobdc = 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid) membrane on a nanostructure array modified nickel (Ni) foam substrate. Ni3S2 nanorod arrays directly grown from the Ni-foam substrate can aggregate and effectively regulate the growth of Co-MOF-74 crystals along a given direction. The effect of reaction time on membrane growth is discussed. The resulting Co-MOF-74 membrane presents good H2 permeance and H2/CO2 selectivity.

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