Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 6, Issue 5, Pages 3721-3728Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/am500026a
Keywords
CdSe QDs; quantum dot sensitized solar cell; ligand exchange; charge transfer rate
Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering [DE-SC0002158]
- Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
- Ministry of Education [NRF-2012R1A6A3A03039474]
- Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award [ONR-N00014-10-1-0942]
- Richard Perry University Professorship
- NSF CAREER Award [CBET-0846464]
- NSF [NSF CBET-1335821, NSF CBET-1333649]
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys
- Directorate For Engineering [1335821] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys
- Directorate For Engineering [0846464, 1333649] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Enhancement of the charge transfer rate in CdSe quantum dot (QD) sensitized solar cells is one of the most important criteria determining cell efficiency. We report a novel strategy for enhancing charge transfer by exchanging the native, long organic chain to an atomic ligand, S2-, with a simple solid exchange process. S2--ligand exchange is easily executed by dipping the CdSe QDs sensitized photoanode into a formamide solution of K2S. The results show that this exchange process leads to an enhancement of the electronic coupling between CdSe QD and TiO2 by removing the insulating organic barrier to charge transfer, while maintaining its quantum confined band structure. This treatment significantly increases the charge transfer rate at the interfacial region between CdSe QDs and TiO2 as well as between the CdSe QDs and Red/Ox coupling electrolyte, as verified by time-resolved photoluminescence and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. Finally, the S2--treated photoanode exhibits a much higher photovoltaic performance than the conventional MPA or TGA-capped CdSe QDs sensitized solar cell. The findings reported herein propose an innovative route toward harvesting energy from solar light by enhancing the carrier charge transfer rate.
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