A Critical Review on the Progress of Kesterite Solar Cells: Current Strategies and Insights

Abstract

Kesterite Cu ₂ZnSn(S,Se) ₄ (CZTSSe) with earth‐abundant and environmental‐benign constituents has been regarded as a promising solar energy harvesting material for green and cost‐effective photovoltaic applications. The record efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells has recently been refreshed twice after years‐long stagnation, keeping it in the spotlight. Nevertheless, the champion efficiency of 13.6% is still far behind its counterpart Cu(In,Ga)Se ₂ (CIGS) (23.35%) despite being endowed with a similar electronic structure and nearly‐identical device architecture. In fact, CZTSSe solar cells are more susceptible to non‐radiative recombination at bulk and interfaces, which must be improved for further efficiency advancement. In this review, the state‐of‐art strategies to enhance the power conversion efficiency of CZTSSe solar cells are summarized and discussed, with focus given to three critical device regions i) kesterite absorber, ii) buffer/kesterite interface, and iii) kesterite/back contact interface. With the further elucidation of the latest progress and disclosure of fundamental mechanisms, novel insights toward high‐efficiency kesterite solar cells are proposed.