Abstract
Cadmium Selenide (CdSe) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) are good electron acceptors for hybrid solar cells. CdSe and CdS nanoparticles can be prepared at low temperatures (60–80°C) from alkaline aqueous solutions of a cadmium salt, sodium citrate, and thiourea, as sulfur source, or sodium selenosulfate, as selenium source. Under the same experimental conditions, the reaction kinetics for CdS were faster than for CdSe. Formation of CdSe/CdS core–shell particles (type I: CdSe as core and CdS as shell) could be achieved by use of an uninterrupted one-step process by setting high and low solution temperatures for the core and shell compounds, respectively. The yield of the CdSe product was higher at a pH 8.5–9.5 whereas that of the CdS product was higher at higher pH (10–11). Therefore, formation of the “inverse” CdS/CdSe structure (type II: CdS as core and CdSe as shell) was possible in a one-step solution process by choosing a high solution pH for the core and a lower pH for the shell. Photoluminescence spectra and electron micrographs confirmed formation of the two types of core–shell particle. The photovoltaic performance of heterojunctions prepared with core–shell particles and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), also suggested formation of core–shell particles. Both the photovoltage and photocurrent density of hybrid solar cells depended on the shell compound and not on the core. It was shown that the interface of the heterojunctions plays is important in solar cell applications, and its modification could be realized by incorporating different shell compounds on core particles.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B.R. Saunders, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 369, 1 (2012).
T. Ni, J. Yan, Y. Jiang, F. Zou, L. Zhang, D. Yang, J. Wei, S. Yang, and B. Zou, J. Mater. Sci. 49, 2571 (2014). doi:10.1007/s10853-013-7953-x.
J.J.M. Halls and R.H. Friend, Organic Photovoltaic Devices, ed. D.M. Archer and R. Hill (London: Imperial College Press, 2001),vol. 1 p. 377.
J.J. Benson-Smith and J. Nelson, Organic donor–acceptor heterojunction solar cells, ed. M.D. Archer and A.J. Nozik (London: Imperial College Press, 2008), p. 453.
M. Wright and A. Uddin, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells 107, 87 (2012).
J. Weickert, R.B. Dunbar, H.C. Hesse, W. Wiedemann, and L. Schmidt-Mende, Adv. Mater. 23, 1810 (2011).
L. Zhao, X. Pang, R. Adhikary, J.W. Petrich, M. Jeffries-EL, and Z. Lin, Adv. Mater. 23, 2844 (2011).
S. Dayal, M.O. Reese, A.J. Ferguson, D.S. Ginley, G. Rumbles, and N. Kopidakis, Adv. Funct. Mater. 20, 2629 (2010).
M.D. Heinemann, K. von Maydell, F. Zutz, J. Kolny-Olesiak, H. Borchert, I. Riedel, and J. Parisi, Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 3788 (2009).
B. Sun and N.C. Greenham, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 8, 3557 (2006).
W.U. Huynh, J.J. Dittmer, and A.P. Alivisatos, Science 295, 2425 (2002).
L.X. Reynolds, T. Lutz, S. Dowland, A. MacLachlan, S. King, and S.A. Haque, Nanoscale 4, 1561 (2012).
M. Zhong, D. Yang, J. Zhang, J. Shi, X. Wang, and C. Li, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells 96, 160 (2012).
S. Dowland, T. Lutz, A. Ward, S.P. King, A. Sudlow, M.S. Hill, K.C. Molloy, and S.A. Haque, Adv. Mater. 23, 2739 (2011).
S. Ren, L.-Y. Chang, S.-K. Lim, J. Zhao, M. Smith, N. Zhao, V. Bulović, M. Bawendi, and S. Gradečak, Nano Lett. 11, 3998 (2011).
X. Jiang, F. Chen, H. Xu, L. Yang, W. Qiu, M. Shi, M. Wang, and H. Chen, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells 94, 338 (2010).
L. Wang, Y.S. Liu, X. Jiang, D.H. Qin, and Y. Cao, Y. J. Phys. Chem. C 111, 9538 (2007).
Y. Zhang and A. Clapp, Sensors 11, 11036 (2011).
V.H. Chu, T.H.L. Nghiem, T.H. Le, D.L. Vu, H.N. Tran, and T.K.L. Vu, Adv. Nat. Sci. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 3, 025017 (2012).
H. Qian, L. Li, and J. Ren, Mater. Res. Bull. 40, 1726 (2005).
D.V. Talapin, R. Koeppe, S. Götzinger, A. Kornowski, J.M. Lupton, A.L. Rogach, O. Benson, J. Feldmann, and H. Weller, Nano Lett. 3, 1677 (2003).
E. Hao, H. Sun, Z. Zhou, J. Liu, B. Yang, and J. Shen, Chem. Mater. 11, 3096 (1999).
X. Peng, M.C. Schlamp, A.V. Kadavanich, and A.P. Alivisatos, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119, 7019 (1997).
J.J. Li, Y.A. Wang, W. Guo, J.C. Keay, T.D. Mishima, M.B. Johnson, and X. Peng, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125, 12567 (2003).
D.-W. Deng, J.-S. Yu, and Y. Pan, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 299, 225 (2006).
E. Arici, D. Meissner, F. Schäffler, and N.S. Sariciftci, Int. J. Photoenergy 5, 199 (2003).
C.S. Coria-Monroy, C. Martínez-Alonso, M. Sotelo-Lerma, J.M. Hernández, and H. Hu, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. (2014). doi:10.1007/s10854-014-2071-3.
P.K. Nair, M.T.S. Nair, O.L. Arenas, Y. Peña, A. Castillo, I.T. Ayala, O. Gomez-Daza, A. Sánchez, J. Campos, H. Hu, R. Súarez, and M. Rincón, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells 52, 313 (1998).
H.J. Cortina-Marrero, P.K. Nair, and H. Hu, Solar Energy 98, 196 (2013).
R.C. Kainthla, D.K. Pandya, and K.L. Chopra, J. Electrochem. Soc. 127, 277 (1980).
P.C. Rieke and S.B. Bentjen, Chem. Mater. 5, 43 (1993).
R. Ortega-Borges and D. Lincot, J. Electrochem. Soc. 140, 3464 (1993).
I. Kaur, D.K. Pandya, and K.L. Chopra, J. Electrochem. Soc. 127, 943 (1980).
D.A. Mazón-Montijo, M. Sotelo-Lerma, L. Rodríguez-Fernández, and L. Huerta, Appl. Surf. Sci. 256, 4280 (2010).
P. Rodriguez, N. Muñoz-Aguirre, E. San-Martın, G. Martinez, G. de la Cruz, S.A. Tomas, and O. Zelaya-Angel, J. Cryst. Growth 310, 160 (2008).
R.B. Kale and C.D. Lokhande, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 20, 1 (2005).
H. Cortina, E. Pineda, J. Campos, M.E. Nicho, and H. Hu, Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 55, 30901 (2011).
M. Grün, W. Langbein, M. Hetterich, and C. Klingshirn, Superlattices Microstruct. 15, 463 (1994).
C. Martínez-Alonso, C.A. Rodríguez-Castañeda, P. Moreno-Romero, C.S. Coria-Monroy, and H. Hu, Int. J. Photoenergy (2014). doi:10.1155/2014/453747.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Selene Coria-Monroy, C., Sotelo-Lerma, M., Martínez-Alonso, . et al. Photovoltaic Properties of CdSe/CdS and CdS/CdSe Core–Shell Particles Synthesized by Use of Uninterrupted Precipitation Procedures. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 3302–3311 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3906-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3906-2