Kësterite is a

sulfide mineral The sulfide minerals are a class of minerals containing sulfide (S2−) or disulfide (S22−) as the major anion. Some sulfide minerals are economically important as metal ores. The sulfide class also includes the selenides, the tellurides, th ...

with a chemical formula of . In its lattice structure,

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

atoms share the same lattice sites. Kesterite is the Zn-rich variety whereas the Zn-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 Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

instead of sulfur.

Occurrence

Kesterite was first described in 1958 in regard to an occurrence in the Kester deposit (and the associated locality) in Ynnakh Mountain,

Yana basin Yana may refer to: Locations *Yana, Burma, a village in Hkamti Township in Hkamti District in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma *Yana, India, a village in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India * Yana, Nigeria, an administrative ca ...

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

, Russia, where it was discovered. It is usually found in quartz-sulfide hydrothermal veins associated with tin ore deposits. Associated minerals include

arsenopyrite Arsenopyrite ( IMA symbol: Apy) is an iron arsenic sulfide (FeAsS). It is a hard ( Mohs 5.5-6) metallic, opaque, steel grey to silver white mineral with a relatively high specific gravity of 6.1. When dissolved in nitric acid, it releases elem ...

, stannoidite,

chalcopyrite Chalcopyrite ( ) is a copper iron sulfide mineral and the most abundant copper ore mineral. It has the chemical formula CuFeS2 and crystallizes in the tetragonal system. It has a brassy to golden yellow color and a hardness of 3.5 to 4 on the Mo ...

chalcocite Chalcocite (), copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S), is an important copper ore mineral. It is opaque and dark gray to black, with a metallic luster. It has a hardness of 2.5–3 on the Mohs scale. It is a sulfide with a monoclinic crystal system. ...

sphalerite Sphalerite (sometimes spelled sphaelerite) is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in sedimentary exhalative, Mississippi-V ...

and

tennantite Tennantite is a copper arsenic sulfosalt mineral with an ideal formula . Due to variable substitution of the copper by iron and zinc the formula is . It is gray-black, steel-gray, iron-gray or black in color. A closely related mineral, tetrahedri ...

. Stannite and kesterite occur together in the

Ivigtut Ivittuut (formerly, Ivigtût) (Kalaallisut: "Grassy Place") is an abandoned mining town near Cape Desolation in southwestern Greenland, in the modern Sermersooq municipality on the ruins of the former Norse Middle Settlement. Ivittuut is one ...

cryolite Cryolite ( Na3 Al F6, sodium hexafluoroaluminate) is an uncommon mineral identified with the once-large deposit at Ivittuut on the west coast of Greenland, mined commercially until 1987. History Cryolite was first described in 1798 by Danish vete ...

deposit of South

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

. Solid solutions form between Cu₂FeSnS₄ and Cu₂ZnSnS₄ at temperatures above 680 °C. This accounts for the exsolved kesterite in stannite found in the cryolite. Kristallstruktur Kesterit

Use

Kesterite like substances are being researched as a solar photovoltaic material.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, author=Bernhard Pracejus, title=The ore minerals under the microscope: an optical guide, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOgvXBjecmQC&pg=PA214, year=2008, publisher=Elsevier, isbn=978-0-444-52863-6, pages=214–215 Copper minerals Iron(II) minerals Tin minerals Sulfide minerals Tetragonal minerals Minerals in space group 82