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Article
Efficient PbS/CdS co-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 nanorod arrays
Nanoscale Research Letters
  • Yitan Li
  • Lin Wei
  • Xiya Chen
  • Ruizi Zhang
  • Xing Sui
  • Yanxue Chen
  • Jun Jiao, Portland State University
  • Liangmo Mei
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-11-2013
Subjects
  • Narrow gap semiconductors,
  • Nanostructured materials,
  • Photovoltaic cells -- Materials,
  • Cadmium sulfide photoconductive cells,
  • Renewable energy sources -- Technological innovations
Disciplines
Abstract

Narrow bandgap PbS nanoparticles, which may expand the light absorption range to the near-infrared region, were deposited on TiO₂ nanorod arrays by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method to make a photoanode for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). The thicknesses of PbS nanoparticles were optimized to enhance the photovoltaic performance of PbS QDSCs. A uniform CdS layer was directly coated on previously grown PbS-TiO₂ photoanode to protect the PbS from the chemical attack of polysulfide electrolytes. A remarkable short-circuit photocurrent density (approximately 10.4 mA/cm²) for PbS/CdS co-sensitized solar cell was recorded while the photocurrent density of only PbS-sensitized solar cells was lower than 3 mA/cm². The power conversion efficiency of the PbS/CdS co-sensitized solar cell reached 1.3%, which was beyond the arithmetic addition of the efficiencies of single constituents (PbS and CdS). These results indicate that the synergistic combination of PbS with CdS may provide a stable and effective sensitizer for practical solar cell applications.

Description

© 2013 Li et al; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DOI
10.1186/1556-276X-8-67
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/9375
Citation Information
Li, Yitan, et al. "Efficient PbS/CdS co-sensitized solar cells based on TiO2 nanorod arrays." Nanoscale research letters 8.1 (2013): 1-7.