Green synthesis of highly efficient CdSe quantum dots for quantum-dots-sensitized solar cells

Journal Article · Wed May 21 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4876118· OSTI ID:22275532

Gao, Bing; Shen, Chao; Zhang, Mengya; Yuan, Shuanglong; Yang, Yunxia; Chen, Guorong ^[1]; Zhang, Bo ^[2]

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1. Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China)
2. Department of Physics, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China)

Green synthesis of CdSe quantum dots for application in the quantum-dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is investigated in this work. The CdSe QDs were prepared with glycerol as the solvent, with sharp emission peak, full width at half maximum around 30 nm, and absorption peak from 475 nm to 510 nm. The reaction is environmental friendly and energy saving. What's more, the green synthesized CdSe QDs are coherence to the maximum remittance region of the solar spectrum and suitable as sensitizers to assemble onto TiO{sub 2} electrodes for cell devices application. What's more, the dynamic procedure of the carriers' excitation, transportation, and recombination in the QDSCs are discussed. Because the recombination of the electrons from the conduction band of TiO{sub 2}'s to the electrolyte affects the efficiency of the solar cells greatly, 3-Mercaptopropionic acid capped water-dispersible QDs were used to cover the surface of TiO{sub 2}. The resulting green synthesized CdSe QDSCs with Cu{sub 2}S as the electrode show a photovoltaic performance with a conversion efficiency of 3.39%.

• OSTI ID: 22275532
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 115; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
CADMIUM SELENIDES
COPPER SULFIDES
ELECTRONS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EXCITATION
GLYCEROL
PHOTOVOLTAIC EFFECT
QUANTUM DOTS
RECOMBINATION
SOLAR CELLS
SYNTHESIS
TITANIUM OXIDES