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Charge-Transfer Complexation at Carminic Acid–CdS Interface and Its Impact on the Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Journal of Electronic Materials volume 44, pages 1167–1174 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

We report for the first time charge-transfer complex formation at the interface of carminic acid and cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles. The complex formation was confirmed by ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by the wet chemical method and characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Carminic acid, in different concentrations, was chemisorbed on the surface of CdS nanoparticles. Grafting of carminic acid on CdS was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Energy levels of the highest occupied molecular orbitals and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) of both carminic acid and CdS nanoparticles matched well for the injection of electron from LUMO of carminic acid to the conduction band of cadmium sulfide. The photoactive nanohybrid material was used in dye-sensitized solar cells. The efficiency of carminic acid functionalized CdS nanoparticles was found to be double the value obtained for the reference device and remained constant over a certain concentration range owing to the complex formation at the interface. However, raising the concentration of carminic acid beyond 2.5 × 10−5 M resulted in a decrease in efficiency. This was ascribed to charge recombination due to the presence of ungrafted carminic acid molecules.

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Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for financial support under project No-20-/2329/NRPU/R&D/HEC/12 and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, for providing laboratory and space facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan

    Naila Shahzad, Syed Mujtaba Shah, Shamsa Munir,  Amina Hana, Uzma Jabeen, Erum Nosheen, Banafsha Habib, Arif Ullah Khan, Zubair Hassan, Muhammad Siddiq & Hazrat Hussain

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  1. Naila Shahzad
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  2. Syed Mujtaba Shah
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  3. Shamsa Munir
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  7. Banafsha Habib
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  10. Muhammad Siddiq
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  11. Hazrat Hussain
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Correspondence to Syed Mujtaba Shah.

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Shahzad, N., Shah, S.M., Munir, S. et al. Charge-Transfer Complexation at Carminic Acid–CdS Interface and Its Impact on the Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 1167–1174 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3648-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-015-3648-1

Keywords

  • Carminic acid
  • dye-sensitized solar cells
  • chemisorption
  • cadmium sulfide
  • nanoparticles