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Solution-processed efficient CdTe nanocrystal/CBD-CdS hetero-junction solar cells with ZnO interlayer

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Abstract

CdTe nanocrystal (NC)/CdS p–n hetero-junction solar cells with an ITO/ZnO-In/CdS/CdTe/MoO x /Ag-inverted structure were prepared by using a layer-by-layer solution process. The CdS thin films were prepared by chemical bath deposition on top of ITO/ZnO-In and were found to be very compact and pin-hole free in a large area, which insured high quality CdTe NCs thin-film formation upon it. The device performance was strongly related to the CdCl2 annealing temperature and annealing time. Devices exhibited power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.08 % following 400 °C CdCl2 annealing for 5 min, which was a good efficiency for solution processed CdTe/CdS NC-inverted solar cells. By carefully designing and optimizing the CdCl2-annealing conditions (370 °C CdCl2 annealing for about 15 min), the PCE of such devices showed a 21 % increase, in comparison to 400 °C CdCl2-annealing conditions, and reached a better PCE of 3.73 % while keeping a relatively high V OC of 0.49 V. This PCE value, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest PCE reported for solution processed CdTe–CdS NC solar cells. Moreover, the inverted solar cell device was very stable when kept under ambient conditions, less than 4 % degradation was observed in PCE after 40 days storage.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51073056, 50990065, 51010003, 61274062, and 11204106), National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 51225301) and SCUT Grant (No. 2013ZZ0016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Yiyao Tian, Yijie Zhang, Yizhao Lin, Kuo Gao, Yunpeng Zhang, Kaiyi Liu & Qianqian Yang

  2. Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials & Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials & Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Xiao Zhou, Donghuan Qin, Hongbin Wu, Linfeng Lan, Junwu Chen, Dan Wang & Rihui Yao

  3. College of Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Yuxin Xia & Lintao Hou

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  1. Yiyao Tian
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  2. Yijie Zhang
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  3. Yizhao Lin
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  5. Yunpeng Zhang
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  8. Xiao Zhou
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  9. Donghuan Qin
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  13. Linfeng Lan
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  15. Dan Wang
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  16. Rihui Yao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Donghuan Qin.

Additional information

Yiyao Tian, Yijie Zhang, Yizhao Lin, and Kuo Gao have contributed equally to this study.

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Tian, Y., Zhang, Y., Lin, Y. et al. Solution-processed efficient CdTe nanocrystal/CBD-CdS hetero-junction solar cells with ZnO interlayer. J Nanopart Res 15, 2053 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-2053-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-2053-z

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