Issue 11, 2019

Harnessing the N-dopant ratio in carbon quantum dots for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells

Abstract

Nowadays, green materials are being prepared to a greater extent to conserve the environment. Due to their outstanding properties, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are becoming the alternatives of the conventional semiconductor-based quantum dots and organic dyes. We reported the one-step synthesis of CQDs and nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) by the solvothermal treatment of green and renewable non-centrifugal cane sugar. The successful syntheses of CQDs and NCQDs were substantiated by various physicochemical techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photoluminescence quantum yields of CQDs and NCQDs were observed to be 5.2% and 9.8%, respectively. Due to their commendable photostability, these NCQDs with different loadings of nitrogen were applied as green sensitizers in TiO2-based solar cells. These NCQDs achieved the highest power conversion efficiency of 1.20% under 0.1 sun illumination (AM 1.5). We believe that this competitiveness of the fabrication of CQDs from the cheapest and green source is the most promising and useful for light harvesting.

Graphical abstract: Harnessing the N-dopant ratio in carbon quantum dots for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 May 2019
Accepted
01 Sep 2019
First published
02 Sep 2019

Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2019,3, 3182-3190

Harnessing the N-dopant ratio in carbon quantum dots for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells

B. Mistry, H. K. Machhi, R. S. Vithalani, D. S. Patel, C. K. Modi, M. Prajapati, K. R. Surati, S. S. Soni, P. K. Jha and S. R. Kane, Sustainable Energy Fuels, 2019, 3, 3182 DOI: 10.1039/C9SE00338J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements