Issue 27, 2016

Improvement in the photovoltaic properties of hybrid solar cells by incorporating a QD-composite in the hole transport layer

Abstract

A hybrid solar cell (HSC) based on a ZnSe and CdSe QDs-composite with improved conversion efficiency has been demonstrated. A novel approach of incorporating a QDs-composite (CdSe and ZnSe QDs simultaneously), in the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)–poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT : PSS) matrix by a simple cost effective solution processing technique, has been adopted. The combination of the QDs produced a 33% increase in the photo-conversion efficiency with a corresponding 67% enhancement in the fill factor (FF) when compared with the reference device. The micro-Raman analysis revealed effective strong coupling between both ZnSe and CdSe QDs, which promotes smooth charge transfer. This improved efficiency due to enhanced FF was achieved through interfacial engineering of the solution-processed hole transport layer, leading to facilitated charge transport and restrained bimolecular recombination. The present approach, outdoing the need of a cascaded layered structure, is compatible with the state-of-the-art hybrid solar cells, thus offering better throughput and a low cost manufacturing process for an improved-performance device.

Graphical abstract: Improvement in the photovoltaic properties of hybrid solar cells by incorporating a QD-composite in the hole transport layer

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Jan 2016
Accepted
18 Feb 2016
First published
23 Feb 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 23048-23057

Improvement in the photovoltaic properties of hybrid solar cells by incorporating a QD-composite in the hole transport layer

M. A. Najeeb, S. M. Abdullah, F. Aziz, M. I. Azmer, W. Swelm, A. A. Al-Ghamdi, Z. Ahmad, A. Supangat and K. Sulaiman, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 23048 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA01052K

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