Performance Enhancement of TBAI Capped CdSe-Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cells by an Interlayer Gold Nanoparticles

  • M. Nabil Mathematical and Physical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering (Shoubra), Banha University, Cairo, Egypt
  • K. Easawi Mathematical and Physical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering (Shoubra), Banha University, Cairo, Egypt
  • T. Abdallah Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, , Cairo, Egypt
  • S. Abdallah Mathematical and Physical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering (Shoubra), Banha University, Cairo, Egypt
  • M. K. Elmancy Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University
  • S. Negm Mathematical and Physical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering (Shoubra), Banha University, Cairo, Egypt
  • H. Talaat Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, , Cairo, Egypt
Keywords: Quantum dot sensitized solar cell (QDSSCs), gold NPs, Plasmon, TBAI, capping exchange.

Abstract

The photovoltaic performance (PV) of quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) has been studied by the addition of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) at three configuration interlayer positions in the photoanodes. The resulting photoanodes are (i) Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) /Au NPs/TiO2/CdSe QDs,(ii) FTO/TiO2/Au NPs/CdSe QDs and (iii) FTO/TiO2/CdSe QDs/Au NPs. The TOPO and HDA capping of CdSe QDs has been modified to be TBAI in order to decrease the CdSe-TiO2 molecular separation. The average size of Au NPs is ~ 15nm as measured by HRTEM. Our results show that the configuration with Au NPs deposited directly on FTO exhibit a noticeable improvement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 0.62% to 1.1%, while the other two configurations show a slight improvement in their performance. The effect of Au NPs in the three photonode configurations on the photovoltaic performance are discussed.

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Published
2019-02-21
Issue
Vol 53 No 1 (2019)
Section
Articles

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