Two-step annealed CdS/CdSe co-sensitizers for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

CdS/CdSe co-sensitizers on TiO₂ films were annealed using a two-step procedure; high temperature (300 °C) annealing of TiO₂/CdS quantum dots (QDs), followed by low temperature (150 °C) annealing after the deposition of CdSe QDs on the TiO₂/CdS. For comparison, two types of films were prepared; CdS/CdSe-assembled TiO₂ films conventionally annealed at a single temperature (150 or 300 °C) and non-annealed films. The 300 °C-annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe showed severe coalescence of CdSe QDs, leading to the blocked pores and hindered ion transport. The QD-sensitized solar cell (QD-SSC) with the 150 °C-annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe exhibited better overall energy conversion efficiency than that with the non-annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe because the CdSe QDs annealed at a suitable temperature (150 °C) provided better light absorption over long wavelengths without the hindered ion transport. The QD-SSC using the two-step annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe increased the cell efficiency further, compared to the QD-SSC with the 150 °C-annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe. This is because the 300 °C-annealed, highly crystalline CdS in the two-step annealed TiO₂/CdS/CdSe improved electron transport through CdS, leading to a significantly hindered recombination rate.     

ZnS overlayer on in situ chemical bath deposited CdS quantum dot-assembled TiO2 films for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

ZnS overlayers were deposited on the CdS quantum dot (QD)-assembled TiO₂ films, where the CdS QDs were grown on the TiO₂ by repeated cycles of the in situ chemical bath deposition (CBD). With increasing the CdS CBD cycles, the CdS QD-assembled TiO₂ films were transformed from the TiO₂ film partially covered by small CdS QDs (Type I) to that fully covered by large CdS QDs (Type II). The ZnS overlayers significantly improved the overall energy conversion efficiency of both Types I and II. The ZnS overlayers can act as the intermediate layer and energy barrier at the interfaces. However, the dominant effects of the ZnS overlayers were different for the Types I and II. For Type I, ZnS overlayer dominantly acted as the intermediate layer between the exposed TiO₂ surface and the electrolyte, leading to the suppressed recombination rate for the TiO₂/electrolyte and the significantly enhanced charge-collection efficiency. On the contrary, for Type II, it dominantly acted as the efficient energy barrier at the interface between the CdS QDs and the electrolyte, leading to the hindered recombination rate from the large CdS QDs to the electrolyte and thus enhanced electron injection efficiency.     

CdS quantum dot-sensitized ZnO nanorod-based photoelectrochemical solar cells

ZnO nanorods have been grown using ZnO seed layer onto ITO-coated glass substrates. CdS quantum dots have been deposited onto ZnO nanorods using simple precursors by chemical method and the assembly of CdS quantum dots with ZnO nanorod has been used as photo-electrode in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells. X-ray diffraction results show that ZnO seed layer, ZnO nanorods, and CdS quantum dot-sensitized ZnO nanorods exhibit hexagonal structure. The particle size of CdS nanoparticle is 5 nm. The surface morphology studied using scanning electron microscope shows that the top surface of the vertically aligned ZnO nanorods is fully covered by CdS quantum dots. The ZnO nanorods have diameter ranging from 100 to 200 nm. The absorption spectra reveal that the absorption edge of CdS quantum dot-sensitized ZnO nanorods shift toward longer wavelength side when compared to the absorption edge of ZnO. The efficiency of the fabricated CdS quantum dot-sensitized ZnO nanorod-based solar cell is 0.69% and is the best efficiency reported so far for this type of solar cells.     

The effect of Mn-doped ZnSe passivation layer on the performance of CdS/CdSe quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

ZnSe as a surface passivation layer in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells plays an important role in preventing charge recombination and thus improves the power conversion efficiency(PCE).However, as a wide bandgap semiconductor, ZnSe cannot efficiently absorb and convert long-wavelength light.Doping transition metal ions into ZnSe semiconductors is an effective way to adjust the band gap, such as manganese ions.In this paper, it is found by the method of density functional theory calculation that the valence band of ZnSe moves upward with manganese ions doping, which leads to acceleration of charge separation, wider light absorption range, and enhancing light harvesting.Finally, by using ZnSe doped with manganese ions as the passivation layer, the TiO_2/CdS/CdSe co-sensitized solar cell has a PCE of 6.12%, and the PCE of the solar cell increases by 9% compared with the undoped one(5.62%).     

The Dynamic Resistance of CdS/CdSe/ZnS Co-Sensitized TiO2 Solar Cells

Quantum dots' sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) can create the high-performance and low-cost photovoltaic in the future. In this study, we synthesized the film of TiO₂/CdS/CdSe/ZnS photoanodes by successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) method. The absorption spectra, photoluminescent spectra and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) of the film TiO₂/CdS/CdSe/ZnS photoanodes show that the structure of energy levels in the conduction band (CB) of photoanode materials CdS, CdSe, and ZnS quantum dots (QDs) can absorb a great number of photons in each region and inject stimulated electrons quickly into the conduction band (CB) of TiO₂. Furthermore, we also studied the influence of the SILAR cycles on the dynamic resistance, the lifetime of electrons in QDSSCs through Nyquist and Bode.     

Photostability comparison of CdTe and CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots in living cells under single and two-photon excitations

The photostability is an outstanding feature of quantum dots (QDs) used as fluorescence probes in biological staining and cell imaging. To find out the related factors in the QD photostability, the photobleaching of naked CdTe QDs and BSA coated CdSe/CdS/ZnS QDs in human hepatocellular carcinoma (QGY) cells and human nasopharynx carcinoma (KB) cells were studied under single photon excitation (SPE) and two-photon excitation (TPE). In these two cell lines the cellular QDs were irradiated by a 405 nm continuous wave laser for SPE or an 800 nm femto-second (fs) laser for TPE. The QD photobleaching with the irradiation time was found to fit a biexponential decay. The fast decay plays a dominant role in the bleaching course and thus can be used as the parameter to quantitatively evaluate the QD photostability. The TPE decreased the QD photobleaching as compared to SPE. The BSA coated core/shell QDs had improved the photostability up to 4-5 times than the naked QDs due to the shielding effect of the QD shell. Therefore, it is better to use core/shell structured QDs as the fluorescence probe combining with a TPE manner for those long-term monitoring studies.     

Ultrafast spectroscopy of CdS/CdSe quantum dots

Results from the nonresonance spectroscopy of CdS/CdSe quantum dots (composites of CdSe–CdS nanoparticles (core–shell)) are presented. The nonlinear optical properties of CdS/CdSe QDs in PMMA are studied with fs pulses at 1053 nm using the transient lens technique. QDs generate rapidly oscillating signals with amplitude rise times of around 200 fs and decay times of around 500 fs, while pure PMMA polymer only generates an oscillating signal whose envelope coincides with its autocorrelation function.     

CdSe/CdS/ZnS 量子点体系中的超快载流子动力学

利用飞秒泵浦探测技术对CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点体系中的超快载流子动力学过程进行了研究. 通过选择不同波长的泵浦光分别激发样品壳层和核层,研究了载流子在壳层和核层中的超快动力学过程. 实验结果表明,载流子在CdS壳层导带中弛豫过程非常迅速(约130 fs),时间明显短于载流子在CdSe核层导带中的弛豫时间(约400 fs). 实验中也发现在CdS壳层和CdSe核层的分界面存在一定量的缺陷态.     

Investigation of electronic and optical properties of (CdSe/ZnS/CdSe/ZnS) quantum dot–quantum well heteronanocrystal

In this article, we have investigated the photoluminescence intensity of quantum dot–quantum well heteronanocrystal with non-linear potential profile which has been analyzed by the finite element numerical methods and is compared with traditional potential profile of same heteronanocrystal. We have probed the effect of carrier localization in layers of heteronanocrystal on the photoluminescence intensity. Moreover, the effects of variation of radius layers such as CdSe core, shell, and ZnS barriers radius on the photoluminescence intensity are studied. Besides, for the first time, we demonstrated the shift of quantum dot–quantum well operation wavelength by introducing non-linear potential profile in the core of heteronanocrystal that can be drastically affected on biological application. Furthermore, in biological application, by tuning the emission wavelengths of quantum dot into the far-red and near-infrared ranges, the non-invasive in vivo imaging technique was developed. In this wavelength window, tissue absorption, scattering, and auto-fluorescence intensities have minimum quantities. In our article with new structure, the relation between size and operation wavelength don’t follow traditional relation.     

Development of gel polymer electrolytes for application in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

A methylcellulose–polysulfide gel polymer electrolyte has been prepared for application in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) having the configuration FTO/TiO₂/CdS/ZnS/SiO₂/electrolyte/Pt(cathode). The electrolyte with the composition of 30.66 wt.% methylcellulose, 67.44 wt.% Na₂S, and 1.90 wt.% sulfur exhibits the highest conductivity of 0.183 S cm^?1 with the lowest activation energy of 6.14 kJ mol^?1. CdS quantum dot sensitizers have been deposited on TiO₂ film via the successive ionic layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The QDSSC fabricated using the highest conducting electrolyte and CdS QD prepared with five SILAR cycles exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.78%. After deposition of zinc sulfide (ZnS) and silicon dioxide SiO₂ passivation layers, the PCE of the QDSSC with photoanode arrangement of TiO₂/CdS(5)/ZnS(2)/SiO₂ increased to 1.42%, an improvement in performance by 82%.     

CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点光纤的增益研究

采用油相法合成了CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点,相对于CdSe量子点,其吸收光谱、发射光谱均发生了红移。利用COMSOL Multiphysics软件模拟CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点光纤和甲苯光纤的电场分布,结果表明CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点光纤的电场强度高于甲苯光纤。采用中心波长为532 nm的稳态半导体激光器作为光源,对甲苯光纤、CdSe/ZnS量子点光纤、CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点光纤进行电压信号测试,发现CdSe/ZnS量子点光纤和CdSe/CdS/ZnS量子点光纤的电压信号值相对于甲苯光纤电压信号值分别增强了6.28 mV和18.43 mV,表明双壳型量子点光纤的增益高于单壳型量子点。     

Size-dependent electronic and optical properties of an exciton in CdSe/CdS/CdSe/CdS multilayer spherical quantum dot

The electronic and optical properties of a single exciton in a CdSe/CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum dot is studied by using effective mass approximation with parabolic confinement. The Coloumbic interaction between electron and hole is included by Hartree potential. A self-consistent technique is used to calculate the energy eigenvalue and wavefunction of exciton. Based on this approximation we investigate the effect of core size, shell thickness, well width on exciton binding energy, absorption spectra, and oscillator strength. The results provide the tuning possibility of electronic and optical properties of multilayer quantum dot with layer thickness.     

Parameter-dependent photon echo induced in CdSe/ZnS quantum dot quantum well

The two pulse photon echo (2PPE) phenomena induced by the 1s-1s electronic transition in CdSe/ZnS quantum dot quantum well (QDQW) has been studied by employing semiconductor Bloch equations. The energy eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of electrons and holes have been obtained by solving the stationary Schrödinger equation under effective-mass approximation. The Coulomb interaction, which changes with the size variation of QDQW, has been calculated and analyzed as a perturbation. The variations of the electric transition dipole moment and the energy interval with the changing of the size and structure of the QDQW have also been obtained. It has been shown from the numerical calculation results that the efficiency of 2PPE can be controlled by the variation of the size and structure of the QDQW and the mechanism has been explained in terms of the quantum size confined effect (QSCE) theory.     

Auger process in CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots

Auger processes are investigated for CdS/ZnS core-shell quantum dots. Auger recombination (AR) lifetime and electron relaxation inside the core are computed. Using the effective-mass theory and by solving a three-dimension Schrödinger equation we predict the dependence of Auger relaxation on size of core-shell nanocrystals. We considered in this work different AR processes: the excited electron (EE), excited hole (EH), multiexciton AR type. Likewise, Auger multiexciton recombination rates are predicted for biexciton. Our results show that biexciton AR type is more efficient than the other AR process (excited electron (EE) and excited hole (EH)). We also found that electron Auger relaxation P→S is very efficient in core-shell nanostructures.     

Characteristics of degenerated four wave mixing in ZnS/CdSe/ZnS quantum dot quantum well with multi-shell structure

The wave functions and eigenenergies of electrons in ZnS/CdSe/ZnS cylindrical quantum dot quantum well (QDQW) have been calculated by solving a three-dimensional nonlinear Schrödinger equation, in the framework of the effective-mass envelope-function theory. The third-order susceptibilities of the degenerated four waves mixing (DFWM) have been calculated theoretically by means of compact density matrix. The third-order susceptibilities as the function of the shell radius R₂, R₃ have been analyzed. The results show that the magnitude of nonlinear susceptibility is increased with the increasing of well radius. The resonance frequency of the photon have a shift when R₂ or R₃ is increasing and the relation between nonlinear susceptibility and relaxation time has also been studied.     

Radiative quantum efficiency of CdSe/ZnS quantum dots suspended in different solvents

The radiative quantum efficiencies η of the CdSe/ZnS core-shell nanoparticles embedded into polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and suspended in three different solvents: chloroform (CHCl₃), toluene (C₆H₅CH₃) and tetrahydrofuran (C₄H₈O) were measured using thermal lens (TL) technique. The mode-mismatched pump-probe TL measurements were accomplished in function of the CdSe/ZnS quantum-dot concentration (12-60 mg/ml) at λ_e = 594 nm (pump) and λ_p = 632.8 nm (probe). The values obtained for η were higher for CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles suspended in tetrahydrofuran and chloroform, as compared to the values for toluene. Thermal diffusivity (D) and the absolute nonradiative quantum efficiency (φ) were determined.     

Preparation and characterization of ZnS/CdS bi-layer for CdTe solar cell application

In this work, bilayer ZnS/CdS film was prepared as an improved window layer of CdTe solar cell. TEM was used to observe the cross section of the bilayer structure. The total thickness of ZnS/CdS film was about 60 nm, which could allow more photons to pass through it and contribute to the photocurrent. Optical properties of the bilayers were investigated using UV–vis spectroscopy. Compared with poor transmission of standard CdS film in the short wavelength range of 350–550 nm, the transmission of ZnS/CdS was improved and reached above 50%. The ZnS/CdS was annealed with CdCl₂. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate its chemical properties. A possible diffusion between CdS and ZnS was observed after annealing. The efficiency of standard CdS/CdTe solar cell was 9.53%. The device based on ZnS/CdS window layer had a poor 6% efficiency. With annealing treatment on ZnS/CdS layer, the performance was improved and reached 10.3%. In addition, the homogeneity of solar cell performance was improved using ZnS/CdS window layer. A thin ZnS layer was quite effective to reduce the possible shunt paths and short parts of window layer and consequently contributed to fabrication of a homogeneous CdTe solar cell.     

Optimisation of the CBD CdS deposition parameters for ZnO/CdS/CuGaSe2/Mo solar cells

We present an optimisation of our recipe for the CdS chemical bath deposition process as applied to solar cells based on polycrystalline CuGaSe₂ (CGSe) absorber layers prepared in two stages by physical vapour deposition. We investigate the influence of the ammonia (NH₃) and the thiourea (H₂NCSNH₂) concentration, both being constituents of the chemical bath deposition (CBD) solution, at a deposition temperature of 80 °C on the microstructural and optical properties of CdS layers and on ZnO/CdS/CuGaSe₂/Mo device parameters. The composition of the CdS layers and their thickness were determined using X-ray Fluorescence Analysis. Transmission and reflection measurements performed at 300 K were used for the calculation of absorption and optical band gap energy (E_g). The E_g values of the films varied from 2.41 to 2.46 eV depending on deposition conditions. Cubic phase of the as-grown layers was identified by X-ray diffraction analysis. An improvement in the investigated solar cells efficiency was achieved when the ammonia concentration was increased and the thiourea concentration was reduced, compared to the previously used standard HMI recipe. The influence of the CBD CdS preparation recipe on the ZnO/CdS/CuGaSe₂/Mo electrical and photoelectrical properties is discussed.