Enhanced photocurrent in PbSe nanorod-quantum dot bulk nano-heterojunction solar cells


Hacıefendioğlu T., Balıkoğlu B., Aydın F., Kolay I., Öztürk İ. M., Asil D.

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE-MATERIALS IN ELECTRONICS, cilt.33, sa.2, ss.714-724, 2022 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2022
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10854-021-07342-y
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE-MATERIALS IN ELECTRONICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Aerospace Database, Applied Science & Technology Source, Chemical Abstracts Core, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, Computer & Applied Sciences, INSPEC, Metadex, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.714-724
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Owing to their remarkable multiple exciton generation (MEG) yield, PbSe nanorods (NRs) have been considered as one of the most promising materials to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit. Unfortunately, assessing the direct role of the PbSe NRs in solar cell designs has been challenging due to their unoptimized film microstructure and poor performances. Here we devise a cell architecture that overcomes these limitations by inserting an electron blocking quantum dot (QD) layer to the NR/metal interface. Further enhancement was achieved by creating a bulk nano-heterojunction (BNHJ) platform comprising the covalently bonded PbSe NRs-donors and PbSe QDs-acceptors. The overall benefit of the exciton cascade, enabling an efficient non-radiative energy transfer, was evidenced through a photocurrent enhancement at energies where the hot exciton generation is expected to take place, that is >= 2E(g) (E-g = band gap). Resulting BNHJ solar cells exhibit 2.42% efficiency and a peak internal quantum efficiency of 100% with a threshold photon energy of 2.9 E-g, outperforming the present cells comprising the NRs with similar band gaps. This proof-of-principle demonstrates that the concept of BNHJ has a practical potential and a breakthrough in the design of the MEG-based solar cells.