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Highly-efficient quantum dot-sensitized solar cells based on Sn doped ZnO and CuS electrodes

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Abstract

Highly efficient CdS/CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) co-sensitized solar cells based on Sn doped ZnO (Sn–ZnO) and CuS electrodes were structured. Sn–ZnO nanoparticle was prepared by hydrothermal method and investigated by X-ray diffraction and N2 adsorption–desorption. The influence of sol-modification and printing process on the crystallinity and morphology of Sn–ZnO photoanode was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Semiconductor QDs were grown on sol-modified Sn–ZnO (SM–Sn–ZnO) photoanode by successive ion layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method and built quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) based on polysulfide electrolyte. Optimizing the SILAR deposition cycle, the highest conversion efficiency (η) reached 2.07 % by co-sensitization of CdS/CdSe/ZnS, which was 37.09 % higher than SM–ZnO based QDSSCs (η = 1.51 %) under the same condition. CuS electrode was used to replace Pt as the cheap counter electrodes of QDSSCs based on the same photoanodes, which could obviously improve the fill factor of QDSSCs and the conversion efficiency reached 3.37 %.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB934300), Shanghai City Committee of Science and Technology (11530500200, 11ZR1412700), National Nature Science Foundation of China (61006089), Innovation Program of Shanghai City (CXSJ-13-077) and Cooperation Fund of Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, China

    Jie Tan, Yue Shen, Zongkun Zhang, Qishuang Wu, Feng Gu, Meng Cao & Linjun Wang

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  1. Jie Tan
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  2. Yue Shen
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  3. Zongkun Zhang
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  4. Qishuang Wu
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  5. Feng Gu
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Correspondence to Yue Shen.

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Tan, J., Shen, Y., Zhang, Z. et al. Highly-efficient quantum dot-sensitized solar cells based on Sn doped ZnO and CuS electrodes. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 2145–2150 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-014-2660-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-014-2660-1

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