Tahta Amrillah, Ghilman Ghariy, Yofi Aditiya, Almas Maitsa Irbah, Prastika Krisma Jiwanti, ST. Ulfawanti Intan Subadra, Ahmad Taufiq, Vani Novita Alviani
Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a widely studied material for low-cost and eco-friendly solar cells. However, CZTS solar cell devices often exhibit poor performance in their semitransparent form. Further development is required to enhance the performance of the transparent CZTS solar cell device. In this present research, we modified the properties of CZTS through Ni doping to improve their ability as an absorber layer for high-performance semitransparent solar cell devices. Our results suggested that Ni doping effectively altered the optoelectronic properties, with electron dynamics improved as the Ni dopant composition increased. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) in this system is 1.05%, for Cu2(Zn(1-x)Ni(x))SnS4 samples with x = 0.4, higher than the control (undoped) sample. The PCE of the samples with higher dopant composition x = 0.6 and 0.8, however, is lower compared to the control sample, which indicates that higher Ni dopant composition is not recommended. Ni also brought evident magnetic properties to the CZTS sample, which could generate the so-called magnetoptoelectronics. The synthesized Ni-doped CZTS formed spherical clusters of nanosheets, with this morphology becoming more pronounced at higher Ni dopant compositions. This morphology potentially enhanced light absorption and, combined with the optimized optoelectronic properties, enabled Ni-doped CZTS to function as an excellent absorber layer, thereby improving solar cell performance. These findings highlight the potential of doping strategies to enhance the performance of semitransparent CZTS solar cell devices and pave the way for the utilization of this solar cell device in the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.
Nanotechnology Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Technology and Multidiscipline, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia; Airlangga Functional Nanomaterials Research Group, Faculty of Advanced Technology and Multidiscipline, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia; Research Centre for New and Renewable Energy Engineering, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, 60115, Indonesia; Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change (WPI-AIMEC), Tohoku University, Sendai, 9808578, Japan
