Issue 46, 2018, Issue in Progress

Improving the parameters of electron transport in quantum dot sensitized solar cells through seed layer deposition

Abstract

Here we investigate the effect of seed layer deposition on electron-transport parameters of chemical-bath-deposited (CBD) CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Fill factors were systematically improved to more than 0.6 through reduced recombination after seed layer deposition. Considering the beneficial effects of seed layer deposition, noticeably higher efficiency values were systematically obtained in cells with the seed layer (2–3.19%) in comparison to cells without a seed layer (0.03–0.46%) depending on the TiO2 photoanode particle size. Electron-transport parameters in cells, including chemical capacitance, recombination resistance, the diffusion coefficient, electron life time and small perturbation diffusion lengths of electrons were examined by modeling the experimental impedance spectroscopy data. We showed that a seed layer enhanced recombination resistance in cells, while the photoanode conduction band position was not affected. Higher diffusion lengths of electrons were obtained after seed layer deposition, correlated to the reduced electron recombination rate by redox electrolyte through seed layer deposition. As a general conclusion we report that while the seed layer generally is deposited to increase light absorption, at the same time this could be applied in order to systematically enhance charge-transport properties in cells and it has a clear application in the optimization of QDSC performance.

Graphical abstract: Improving the parameters of electron transport in quantum dot sensitized solar cells through seed layer deposition

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 May 2018
Accepted
13 Jul 2018
First published
19 Jul 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 26056-26068

Improving the parameters of electron transport in quantum dot sensitized solar cells through seed layer deposition

M. Samadpour, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 26056 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA04413A

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