Cadmium effect on optical properties of Cu2Zn1− xCdxSnS4 quinternary alloys nanostructures

Abstract

While efforts have been made to synthesize quaternary alloy nanostructures with high surface area for application in many fields, a detailed exploration of quinternary alloy nanostructures has not been reported until now. This work investigates the optimum crystal- lization parameters for reducing crystal defects in Cu 2 Zn 1

x Cd x SnS 4 quinternary alloy nanostructures. Alloy nanostructures with differ- ent Zn and Cd contents were grown by a sol–gel method. The analytical results confirmed a multi-phase polycrystallinity of the samples, and the variations in their energetic transitions and optical properties with Cd content were investigated. The morphology and topog- raphy of the samples were also observed. Our results are supported by several related studies in the literature. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.