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Electrostatic assembly of CdTe quantum dots with different charged ligands into TiO2 porous film for solar cells

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Abstract

We have demonstrated an approach for the electrostatic assembly of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) with different charged ligands as sensitizers, achieving high coverage and good dispersion in TiO2 porous films. The CdTe QD-sensitized TiO2 porous films were subjected to thermal annealing in a high vacuum chamber to remove the ligand linker, resulting in the formation of direct heterojunctions between the bare CdTe QDs and TiO2 for a favorable charge transfer. The as-received CdTe QD-sensitized TiO2 porous films were employed as photoanodes for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QSSCs), and the photocurrent density reached as high as 4.69 mA/cm2 under a standard illumination condition of simulated AM 1.5G (100 mW/cm2).

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Acknowledgement

This work was financially supported by the 973 Project of China (Grant no. 2012CB934302).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Materials for Mobile Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, P.R. China

    Liman Sai & Xiang Yang Kong

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  1. Liman Sai
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  2. Xiang Yang Kong
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Correspondence to Xiang Yang Kong.

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Sai, L., Kong, X.Y. Electrostatic assembly of CdTe quantum dots with different charged ligands into TiO2 porous film for solar cells. Appl. Phys. A 114, 1153–1160 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7702-7

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