Open-air solvothermal synthesis and photoresponse of plate-shaped Cu 3 ZnInSnSe 6 nanocrystals

The synthesis of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) with low cost and in large scale is important for a variety of applications. In this work, a facile, non-vacuum solvothermal method was used to synthesize plate-shaped Cu3ZnInSnSe6 (CZITSe) NCs with zincblende structure. Elemental mapping and XPS were utilized to establish the presence of all key elements. The bandgap of these CZITSe NCs is determined to be 1.22 eV. Thin films fabricated from the CZITSe NC suspension show clear photoresponse under illumination of a solar simulator, suggesting that these NCs can be photoabsorbers for thin-film solar cells. This study demonstrates a simple and economical method to synthesize CZITSe NCs with plate shape potentially useful for applications including solar energy conversion.