Chemical Route Synthesis and Properties of CZTS Nanocrystals for Sustainable Photovoltaics

The biggest problems in today’s World is energy crisis and deteriorating environmental and thus health conditions. The energy crisis arises due to the maximum use of fossil fuels as an energy resource. Also, these are limited and non-renewable resources and are available only for a few coming decades. In the present time, nanomaterials are being used to produce and store solar energy by converting it directly into electrical (photovoltaic applications) or chemical energy (Photocatalytic applications). Recently, quaternary chalcopyrite compounds like Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS), Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe) and Cu2ZnSn(SexS1-x)4 (CZTSSe) seeks attention from scientific community due to their excellent physicochemical properties. These compounds constituents non-toxic Earth-abundant elements making them low-cost material. These are semiconducting materials having tunable band gap ranging from 1.0 to 1.5 eV, and high optical absorption (>104 cm). Owing to their extraordinary physicochemical properties such as good photostability, high carrier mobility, heat resistance, and long diffusion lengths, it also founds its application in a huge and various applications, including chemistry (photocatalysis), biology (biomedicine and biosensors), and energy regimes (photovoltaics) etc. The present chapter discusses the progress regarding the manufacturing technologies, processing, structural and defect details of CZTS nanoparticles for their applications in photovoltaics regime.