Paper
28 April 2010 Performance enhancements of dye sensitized nanostructured solar cells using PbS quantum dots
P. K. D. D. P. Pitigala, K. Tennakone, A. G. U. Perera
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
Solar energy conversion concept based on nanostructured materials has attracted much attention as an avenue to develop cheaper and more efficient solar cells. Both dye molecules and quantum dots can sensitize high band gap semiconductor by injecting carriers to the conduction band (CB) or valence band (VB) of the high band gap material, if energy band levels are in appropriate configuration and have a suitable bond between them. However, other physical properties of dye anchored and quantum dot embedded nanostructured semiconductor films offers the possibility of designing hybrid systems of higher efficiency. The low efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells is partly attributed to the poor electron transport properties of the dye coated nanocrystalline matrix. Encapsulation of PbS quantum dots could enhance the electronic conductivity of nanostructured ZnO films. PbS quantum dot sensitized ZnO films shows sensitizing response to light absorption in ZnO, PbS QDs and dyes anchored to ZnO. As a result of the improvement of transport properties by the QDs, photocurrent response of composite system due to light absorption by ZnO and dye are also enhanced. Possibilities of adopting this concept in solar cells and multi-band photon detectors will be discussed.
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P. K. D. D. P. Pitigala, K. Tennakone, and A. G. U. Perera "Performance enhancements of dye sensitized nanostructured solar cells using PbS quantum dots", Proc. SPIE 7683, Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials, Devices, and Applications, 768318 (28 April 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.851812
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KEYWORDS
Lead

Zinc oxide

Quantum dots

Absorption

Semiconductors

Solar cells

Nanostructuring

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