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BiVO4 semiconductor sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

Semiconductor sensitized solar cells (SSSCs) are promising candidates for the third generation of cost-effective photovoltaic solar cells and it is important to develop a group of robust, environment friendly and visible-light-responsive semiconductor sensitizers. In this paper, we first synthesized bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) quantum dots by employing facile successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) deposition technique, which we then used as a sensitizer for solar energy conversion. The preliminary optimised oxide SSSC showed an efficiency of 0.36%, nearly 2 orders of magnitude enhancement compared with bare TiO2, due to the narrow bandgap absorption of BiVO4 quantum dots and intimate contact with the oxide substrate. This result not only demonstrates a simple method to prepare BiVO4 quantum dots based solar cell, but also provides important insights into the low bandgap oxide SSSCs.

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Correspondence to Jun Zhu, Junwang Tang or Songyuan Dai.

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Li, Y., Zhu, J., Chu, H. et al. BiVO4 semiconductor sensitized solar cells. Sci. China Chem. 58, 1489–1493 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-015-5348-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-015-5348-3

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