Abstract
In this report, an effort has been made to develop an efficient PbS quantum dot-sensitized photoanode by simple successive ionic layer adsorption and reduction technique to enhance the overall photovoltaic performance of PbS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. Three strategies have been adopted for the improvement of the photovoltaic performance of PbS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells, i.e., (i) by incorporation of TiO2-Au nanocomposites, where Au nanoparticles of different sizes are embedded into a TiO2 matrix, and (ii) variation of temperature at which quantum dots are deposited (iii) by postdeposition annealing of QD-sensitized photoanode in Ar atmosphere. We have used electrophoretic deposition technique to develop the nanocomposite-doped photoanode. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirms that the Au particles dispersed in the TiO2 matrix vary from 2 to 50 nm and PbS quantum dot size ranges 3.5–6 nm. The optical absorption of PbS quantum dot-sensitized TiO2-Au-incorporated photoanode is substantially enhanced as confirmed from the UV-visible absorption spectra measurements. The current-voltage characteristics of all the plasmonic quantum dot-sensitized solar cells under illumination (100 mW/cm2, AM 1.5) show significant improvement in power conversion efficiency using the abovementioned strategies. The maximum power conversion efficiency observed in PbS quantum dot-based quantum dot-sensitized solar cells is 7.0%. Electroimpedance spectroscopy has been utilized to understand the recombination kinetics in these solar cells.
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This research is supported by funding from CSIR scheme 03(1304)/13/EMR-II, UGC 42-1069/ 2013 (SR) and LNM Institute of Information Technology, Jaipur.
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Bhardwaj, S., Pal, A., Chatterjee, K. et al. Enhanced efficiency of PbS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells using plasmonic photoanode. J Nanopart Res 20, 198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4301-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4301-8