Photoconductivity of CdTe Nanocrystal-Based Thin Films. Te^2- Ligands Lead To Charge Carrier Diffusion Lengths Over 2 Micrometers

Journal Article · Mon Nov 16 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b02252· OSTI ID:1233697

Crisp, Ryan W. ^[1]; Callahan, Rebecca ^[1]; Reid, Obadiah G. ^[2]; Dolzhnikov, Dmitriy S. ^[3]; Talapin, Dmitri V. ^[3]; Rumbles, Garry ^[1]; Luther, Joseph M. ^[1]; Kopidakis, Nikos ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
3. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

We report on photoconductivity of films of CdTe nanocrystals (NCs) using time-resolved microwave photoconductivity (TRMC). Spherical and tetrapodal CdTe NCs with tunable size-dependent properties are studied as a function of surface ligand (including inorganic molecular chalcogenide species) and annealing temperature. Relatively high carrier mobility is measured for films of sintered tetrapod NCs (4 cm²/(V s)). Our TRMC findings show that Te^2- capped CdTe NCs show a marked improvement in carrier mobility (11 cm²/(V s)), indicating that NC surface termination can be altered to play a crucial role in charge-carrier mobility even after the NC solids are sintered into bulk films.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1233697
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5900-65159
• Journal Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 23; Related Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters; ISSN 1948-7185
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
photoconductivity
CdTe
nanocrystal