Kesterite tech news
On October 28, 2026, researchers from Xiamen University Malaysia, Wuhan University, and Multimedia University published a study in Energy Reports detailing a high--efficiency design for earth--abundant copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) kesterite solar cells. To eliminate toxic cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layers and overcome performance--limiting carrier recombination, the team introduced a tungsten oxide (WO₃) buffer layer paired with a copper zinc tin selenide (CZTSe) back surface field (BSF) layer. Using SCAPS--1D device simulations, the optimized Pt/CZTSe/CZTS/WO₃/ZnO architecture reached a power conversion efficiency of 29.37%, an open--circuit voltage of 1.2 V, and a fill factor of 83.37%, substantially exceeding the 23.01% efficiency modeled for configurations lacking the kesterite BSF layer.