Skip to content
Mineralati

Minerals

Kësterite

kësterite

Cu2ZnSnS4

Kësterite: Mineral information, data and localities.

Kësterite: Mineral information, data and localities. — via www.mindat.org · Source

Overview

Kësterite is a sulfide mineral with a chemical formula of Cu2(Zn,Fe)SnS4. In its lattice structure, zinc and iron atoms share the same lattice sites. Kesterite is the zinc-rich variety whereas the zinc-poor form is called ferrokesterite or stannite. Owing to their similarity, kesterite is sometimes called isostannite. The synthetic form of kesterite is abbreviated as CZTS (from copper-zinc-tin sulfide). The name kesterite is sometimes extended to include this synthetic material and also CZTSe, which contains selenium instead of sulfur. Along with perovskite, recent advances have made kesterite promising materials for solar panels.

Identification characteristics

  • Mohs hardness 4.5

Scientific references

  1. Kësterite — Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q411526 Link
  2. Kësterite — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesterite Link