Comparison of Cu2SnS3 and CuSbS2 as potential solar cell absorbers

Earth-abundant chalcogenide thin-film solar cells, in particular Cu
₂
ZnSnS
₄
(CZTS), have recently attracted a lot of attention in the field of photovoltaics. Further increases in CZTS performance are challenging, in part because of defects caused by the chemical complexity of this quaternary material. Ternary copper chalcogenides, such as Cu
₂
SnS
₃
and CuSbS
₂
, are chemically simpler, but their performance is still lower than that of CZTS. Here, we compare the physical properties of the Cu-Sn-S and Cu-Sb-S material families using a high-throughput combinatorial approach, with particular focus on Cu
₂
SnS
₃
and CuSbS
₂
. We find that both materials have similar competing phases, but they differ significantly in terms of their structures, composition stability ranges, optical absorption, and electrical transport properties. The results of this study lead to the conclusion that CuSbS
₂
, with lower conductivity and higher absorption, may be more promising for the development of Earth-abundant thin-film solar cells despite its layered structure and lower phase stability range.