A low-temperature solution-processed indium incorporated zinc oxide electron transport layer for high-efficiency lead sulfide colloidal quantum dot solar cells. Issue 30 (21st July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bashir, Rabia; Bilal, Muhammad Kashif; Bashir, Amna; Zhao, Jianhong; Asif, Sana Ullah; Ahmad, Waqar; Xie, Jiyang; Hu, Wanbiao
• Is Part Of: Nanoscale. Volume 13:Issue 30(2021)
• Page Start: 12991
• Page End: 12999
• Publication Date: 2021-07-21
• Subjects: Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; 620.505
• DOI: 10.1039/d1nr03572j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3364

Abstract

Abstract : A low-temperature solution strategy is used to synthesize In 3+ /Al 3+ /Ga 3+ incorporated ZnO (IZO/AZO/GZO) films. The IZO ETL demonstrates enhanced light transmission and broadened band gap. The fabricated IZO ETL achieve a PCE of 11.1% in PbS CQDSCs. Abstract : Colloidal quantum dot solar cells (CQDSCs) have achieved remarkable progress recently in terms of mainly surface passivation and composition-matching matrices on CQDs, while improving the overall photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) through electron transport layer (ETL) modifications is less explored. We report a low-temperature solution route to synthesize donor (Al 3+ /Ga 3+ /In 3+ ) incorporated zinc oxide (AZO/GZO/IZO) ETL films for PbS CQDSCs. Spectroscopic characterization studies indicate that the IZO ETL fabricated with 150 °C annealing can increase the bandgap the most from 3.56 eV to 3.74 eV, possesses enhanced light transmission (∼94%) and finer particle sizes, and importantly shows the most suitable band alignment and charge transfer ability. Well-dispersed PbS CQDs of around 3 nm are synthesized by a N2 -protected reflux method and are surface exchanged with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (EMII) to allow I − grafting and ethanedithiol (EDT) for the active layer and hole transport layer, respectively. The IZO based PbS CQDSC, with a device architecture of ITO/IZO/PbS-EMII/PbS-EDT/Au, shows an enhanced PCE of 11.1% (comparatively 18% higher than that of the ZnO ETL), a V OC value of 0.64 V, and a J SC of 25.8 mA cm −2 . The improved performances benefit from the higher recombination resistance and constrained photoluminescence emission with the utilization of the IZO ETL that provides a superior charge transfer property.