| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Energy Frontiers Focus Topic | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session EN+EM+NS-WeM |
| Session: | Quantum Dot and Nanowire Solar Cells |
| Presenter: | Jason Baxter, Drexel University |
| Authors: | H. Majidi, Drexel University T.P. Le, Drexel University G.W. Guglietta, Drexel University J.B. Baxter, Drexel University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Solar cells can provide an abundant, clean, and sustainable source of electricity, but high costs have limited their implementation. The use of sensitized nanostructured architectures may enable both low-cost processing and high efficiency by decoupling the functions of light harvesting and charge transport into different materials. Sensitized solar cells consist of a bicontinuous interpenetrating network of electron- and hole-transporting materials with an interfacial absorber layer. In this architecture, interfacial recombination is the dominant loss process, so controlling the interfacial chemistry during deposition is critical.
We report on the use of n-type ZnO nanowire arrays sensitized with thin CdSe coatings and covered with p-type CuSCN in extremely thin absorber (ETA) solar cells. Low temperature, solution deposition methods were used for each material, offering the potential for inexpensive and scalable nanomanufacturing. Nanowire arrays provide direct pathways for electron transport as well as sufficient surface area for sensitization. The electrodeposited CdSe coatings are nanocrystalline and conformal with well-controlled thickness. CuSCN is electrodeposited into the pore volume between nanowires. Morphology and microstructure of CdSe and CuSCN depend sensitively on bath chemistry and deposition potential. By controlling nucleation and growth rates, conformal and void-free materials can be deposited.
A combination of solar cell measurements and ex situ materials characterization for both planar thin film stacks and nanowire arrays have been used to direct the selection of optimal ETA cell architectures. For example, ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy demonstrates that interfacial electron transfer from photoexcited CdSe to the ZnO is much faster than recombination (~3 ps vs ~50 ps) for thin coatings. Planar solar cells were used to identify the optimal coating thickness of ~70 nm for these materials. External quantum efficiency measurements show efficient sensitization throughout the visible region of the solar spectrum. However, interfacial recombination limits overall energy conversion efficiencies.