Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T23:54:10.326Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Efficiency Improvement in P3HT:CdSe Quantum Dots Hybrid Solar Cells by Utilizing Novel Processing of a Dual Ligand Exchangers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2013

M. Alam Khan ,
U. Farva ,
Yongseok Jun  and
Omar Manasreh
M. Alam Khan
Affiliation:
Interdisciplinary School of Green Energy, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 100 Baniyeon-ri, Eonyang-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, 689-798 Republic of Korea. Optoelectronic Laboratory, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, AR, United States
U. Farva
Affiliation:
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-744 Republic of Korea
Yongseok Jun
Affiliation:
Interdisciplinary School of Green Energy, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), 100 Baniyeon-ri, Eonyang-eup, Ulju-gun, Ulsan, 689-798 Republic of Korea.
Omar Manasreh
Affiliation:
Optoelectronic Laboratory, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701, AR, United States
Get access

Abstract

CdSe quantum dots of hexagonal Wurtzite crystal structure with an average diameter of ∼7 nm were synthesized and processed for bulk heterojunction solar cell applications. The UV-Vis absorption spectrum shows an excitonic peak at 625 nm and at 635 nm in synthesized and dual ligand exchanged samples, respectively. The synthesized quantum dots were successively ligand exchanged by pyridine and 2-propanethiol to remove the TOPO ligands on quantum dot surface and then hybrid solar cell devices were fabricated. Initially the weight ratio was optimized by using pyridine capped CdSe blend with P3HT polymer as an active layer in chloroform as a solvent on the patterned ITO glass. Then dual ligand exchanged CdSe was compared with pyridine optimized samples. The maximum solar cell conversion efficiency of 1.21% was achieved with Jsc of 4.1 mA/cm-2, VOC of 0.51 and FF of 44 compared to the optimized pyridine capped CdSe quantum dots where efficiency of 0.74% with Jsc of 2.15 mA/cm-2, VOC of 0.53 was observed. The increase in solar cell efficiency was attributed to the better ligand exchanged and additional treatment with 2-propanethiol at ambient temperature. Such an exchange of organic ligands by successive ligand exchanger will open new domain for hybrid solar cell research. The morphology of QDs and microstructures of the heterojunction active layer (P3HT:CdSe) were examined by using TEM, XRD, UV-Vis spectra, and IV curve techniques.

Keywords

nanostructureoptoelectronicphotovoltaic
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1537: Symposium B – Organic and Hybrid Photovoltaic Materials and Devices , 2013 , mrss13-1537-b06-43
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Kamat, P. V., J. Phys. Chem. C 111, 2834 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keeling, C. D., Whorf, T. P., Wahlen, M. and Vanderplicht, J., Nature 375, 666 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, M. E., Bradley, R.S., Hughes, M.K. and Jones, P.D., Science 280, 2029 (1998).Google Scholar
DOE Argonne National Laboratory, Basic research needs for the hydrogen economy, Report of DOE BES workshop on hydrogen production, storage, and use, 13–15 May 2003.Google Scholar
Crabtree, G. W. and Lewis, N. S., Phys. Today 60, 37 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zukalova, M., Zukal, A., Kavan, L., Nazeeruddin, M. K., Liska, P. and Gratzel, M., Nano Lett. 5, 1789 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adachi, M., Murata, Y., Takao, J., Jiu, J. T., Sakamoto, M. and Wang, F. M., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 14943 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law, M., Greene, L. E., Johnson, J. C., Saykally, R. and Yang, P. D., Nat. Mater. 4, 455 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, K., Neale, N. R., Miedaner, A. and Frank, A. J., Nano Lett. 7, 69 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohtani, S., Kudo, A. and Sakata, T., Chem. Phys. Lett. 206, 166 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plass, R., Pelet, S., Krueger, J., Gratzel, M. and Bach, U., J. Phys. Chem. B 106, 7578 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peter, L. M., Wijayantha, K. G. U., Riley, D. J., Waggett, J. P., J. Phys. Chem. B 107, 8378 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, D. and Kamat, P. V., J. Phys. Chem. 97, 10769 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaban, A., Micic, O. I., Gregg, B. A. and Nozik, A. J., Langmuir 14, 3153 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, S., Cho, S. and Cheon, J., Adv. Mater. 15, 441 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jun, Y., Choi, J. and Cheon, J., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 45, 3414 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nair, P. S., Fritz, K. P. and Scholes, G. D., Small 3, 481 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, A. M., Bardecker, J. A., Liu, M. S., Cheng, Y. J., Niu, Y.-H., Plante, I. J.-H., Jen, I. A. K.-Y. and Ginger, D. S., Microchim. Acta, 160, 345 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuno, M., Lee, J. K., Dabbousi, B. O., Mikulec, F. V., Bawendi, M. G., J. Chem. Phys. 106 9869 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar