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A fast combinative chemical precipitation/microwave-activated approach for the synthesis of alloyed CdSexTe1-x nanocrystals for application in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

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Abstract

In this work CdSe0.4Te0.6 NCs were synthesized in aqueous solution by a novel combinative chemical precipitation/microwave-activated method. The microwave time was interestingly altered in a short-time range for the synthesis of these NCs with different sizes and bandgap energies. Then they were applied as the co-sensitizing quantum dots layer in the photoanode of the CdS QDs sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). It was displayed that the QDSC with TiO2 NCs/CdSeTe(0.5hR)/CdS/ZnS photoelectrode demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.65% in AM 1.5 solar irradiation. The selected CdSeTe(0.5hR) NCs were prepared in 0.5 h of the reflux time in chemical precipitation method. Then they were utilized in a second microwave-activated growth process to achieve larger sizes of the CdSeTe NCs. The microwave time was changed in the range of 0–2.5 h in the experiments and synthesized CdSeTe 0.5hR + 0–2.5hM NCs were applied in the photoanode of the corresponding QDSCs. It was shown that the QDSC with TiO2 NCs/CdSeTe(0.5hR + 0.5hM)/CdS/ZnS photoelectrode revealed a maximum power conversion efficiency of 5%. The considerable point was that the CdSeTe(0.5hR + 0.5hM) NCs demonstrated 76% higher photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) than the best situation of particles which were normally prepared in 7 h of the reflux time. Besides, the growth was properly carried out in just 1 h of this proposed combinative method. The better crystalline quality and appropriate absorption edge were introduced as the main reasons for highest power conversion efficiency. The short synthesis time was also clarified as the advantage of this proposed approach compared to the normal colloidal synthesis in longer reflux times.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

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  1. Nanostructures and Nanostructured Devices Research Laboratory, Physics Department, Arak University, Arak, 38156, Iran

    Maziar Marandi, Sepideh Hossein Abadi & Alireza Eftekhari

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  1. Maziar Marandi
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  2. Sepideh Hossein Abadi
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by SHA, AE, and MM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MM and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maziar Marandi.

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Marandi, M., Hossein Abadi, S. & Eftekhari, A. A fast combinative chemical precipitation/microwave-activated approach for the synthesis of alloyed CdSexTe1-x nanocrystals for application in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 16713–16727 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08514-0

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