Semiconductor Quantum Dots for Performance Improvement in Solar Cells
Lekshmi Gangadhar1, Akhila Rajan2, P. K Praseetha3
1Lekshmi Gangadhar, Department of Nanotechnology, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kumaracoil, Kanya Kumari (Tamil Nadu), India.
2Akhila Rajan, Department of Nanotechnology, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kumaracoil, Kanya Kumari (Tamil Nadu), India.
3P. K Praseetha, Department of Nanotechnology, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kumaracoil, Kanya Kumari (Tamil Nadu), India.
Manuscript received on 02 May 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 14 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 23 May 2019 | PP: 11-17 | Volume-7 Issue-6S5 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F10030476S519/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: The solar energy is the potential renewable green energy supply while considering the provision of sunlight in abundance and requirement for clean and renewable source of energy. The quantum dots sensitized solar cells (QDSC) provide an alternative perception to current photovoltaic devices. Quantum dots are colloidal nanocrystalline semiconductors possessing distinctive properties owing to quantum confinement effects. Quantum dots synthesis is based on an aqueous medium involving cadmium sulphate, zinc acetate, thiourea and ammonium hydroxide and assemble these quantum dots with nanoporous TiO2 films for quantum dots-sensitized solar cell applications. Titanium dioxide nanowires (TNW) were fabricated by a wet chemical method. Physical and chemical properties of the formed nanoparticles were differentiated using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ultraviolet-visible light (UV-VIS) spectrometer. The establishment of TNWs allows the electrolyte to go easily within the film, escalating the surface contact among the nanowires, the quantum dots and the electrolyte, results in improvement in the efficiency of solar cell. Since quantum dots are solution processable, they are an attractive material for the recognition of low-cost, large-area, flexible and light weight photovoltaic devices. Various parameters of quantum dot sensitized solar cell were calculated. QDSC were fabricated by combining CdS and CdS/ZnS core-shell QDs with TiO2 wire arrays. An efficiency of 7.02% was attained for the CdS/ZnS quantum dots-sensitized solar cells using the present method. Moreover these devices processed in ambient atmosphere have shown better performance and possess enhanced chemical, thermal and photochemical stability.
Keywords: Cadmium Sulfide, Sensitization, Solar Cells, Quantum Dots.
Scope of the Article: Nano electronics and Quantum Computing