Synergistic recombination suppression by an inorganic layer and organic dye molecules in highly photostable quantum dot sensitized solar cells

An inorganic layer and dye molecules have synergistically suppressed the recombination in a quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSC), by the design of a structure featured TiO2-CdS-ZnS-N3 (N3: RuL2(NCS) 2 (L = 2,20-bipyridyl-4,40-dicarboxylic acid)) hybrid photoanode. When fabricated into solar cells, a cobalt complex-based electrolyte rather than an iodine-based one was employed to obtain an impressive photostability for the devices. Raman and Photoluminescence (PL) measurements revealed that not only the CdS QDs were passivated by both the inorganic layer of ZnS and dye molecule of N3, but also N3 served as an efficient hole scavenger for the CdS QDs due to a type-II energetic alignment between the two sensitizers. This role of N3 as an intermediary in hole extraction from CdS QDs to the electrolyte was further proven by the significant photovoltaic performance improvement of the CdS sensitized solar cell after ZnS deposition and N3 co-sensitization. The overall efficiency of the solar cell incorporated with TiO2-CdS-ZnS-N3 film exceeded the sum of the single CdS QDs and N3 dye sensitized solar cells. This enhancement is ascribed mainly to the synergistic recombination suppression by the inorganic layer ZnS and N3 co-sensitization, leading to inhibited recombination and increased electron lifetime, as illustrated by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis.