This paper reports the fabrication of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) based quantum dot sensitized solar cell using Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) quantum dots (QDs) capped by poly vinyl alcohol (PVA). Chemical route was used to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) as well as CdS QDs. The crystallite size of ZnO NPs was obtained to be 28 nm at 7 pH. The size of QDs decreased from 5.6 to 2.6 nm with increase in the PVA concentration from 2 to 10 wt. %. There is a blue shift in the band gap of QDs with increase in the concentration of PVA. Current-Voltage characteristic of the cell was obtained and various solar cell parameters were estimated. The efficiency of quantum dot sensitized solar cells was found to be 1.3% at AM 1.5.

1.
D. R.
Baker
and
P. V.
Kamat
,
Adv. Funct. Mater.
19
,
805
(
2009
).
2.
M.
Gratzel
,
J. Photochem. Photobiol. C
4
,
145
(
2003
).
3.
C.
Longo
and
M.-A. D.
Paoli
,
J. Braz. Chem. Soc.
14
,
889
(
2003
).
4.
S.
Dai
,
J.
Weng
,
Y.
Sui
,
S.
Chen
,
S.
Xiao
,
Y.
Huang
,
F.
Kong
,
X.
Pan
,
L.
Hu
,
C.
Zhang
, and
K.
Wang
,
Inorg. Chim. Acta
361
,
786
(
2008
).
5.
M.
Wang
,
C.
Huang
,
Y.
Cao
,
Q.
Yu
,
Z.
Deng
,
Y.
Liu
,
Z.
Huang
,
J.
Huang
,
Q.
Huang
,
W.
Guo
, and
J.
Liang
,
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.
42
,
155104
(
2009
).
6.
Y.
Lee
,
B.
Huang
, and
H.
Chien
,
Chem. Mater.
20
,
6903
(
2008
).
7.
K. S.
Leschkies
,
R.
Divakar
,
J.
Basu
,
E.
Enache-Pommer
,
J. E.
Boercker
,
C. B.
Carter
,
U. R.
Kortshagen
,
D. J.
Norris
, and
E. S.
Aydil
,
Nano lett.
7
,
1793
(
2007
).
8.
J. B.
Sambur
,
T.
Novet
, and
B. A.
Parkinson
,
Science
330
,
63
(
2010
).
9.
P.
Sudhagar
,
J. H.
Jung
,
S.
Park
,
R.
Sathyamoorthy
,
H.
Ahn
, and
Y. S.
Kang
,
Electrochim. Acta
55
,
113
(
2009
).
10.
C.
Chang
and
Y.
Lee
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
91
,
053503
(
2007
).
11.
Y.
Zhang
,
T.
Xie
,
T.
Jiang
,
X.
Wei
,
S.
Pang
,
X.
Wang
, and
D.
Wang
,
Nanotechnology
20
,
155707
(
2009
).
12.
Y.
Tak
,
H.
Kim
,
D.
Lee
, and
K.
Yong
,
Chem. Commun.
38
,
4585
(
2008
).
13.
J.
Lee
,
Y.
Sung
,
T. G.
Kim
, and
H.
Choi
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
91
,
113104
(
2007
).
14.
J.
Chen
,
J.
Wu
,
W.
Lei
,
J. L.
Song
,
W. Q.
Deng
, and
X. W.
Sun
,
Appl. Surf. Sci.
256
,
7438
(
2010
).
15.
N.
Daneshvar
,
S.
Aber
,
M. S.
Seyed Dorraji
,
A. R.
Khataee
, and
M. H.
Rasoulifard
,
Int. J. Chem. Biological Eng.
1
(
1
),
23
(
2008
).
16.
D.
Chen
,
X.
Jiao
, and
G.
Cheng
,
Solid State Commun.
113
,
363
(
2000
).
17.
B.
Suo
,
X.
Su
,
J.
Wu
,
D.
Chen
,
A.
Wang
, and
Z.
Guo
,
Mater. Chem. Phys.
119
,
237
(
2010
).
18.
P.
Suri
and
R. M.
Mehra
,
Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells
91
,
518
(
2007
).
19.
S.
Rani
and
R. M.
Mehra
,
J. Renewable Sustainable Energy
1
,
033109
(
2009
).
20.
J.
Chen
,
J. L.
Song
,
X. W.
Sun
,
W. Q.
Deng
,
C. Y.
Jiang
,
W.
Lei
,
J. H.
Huang
, and
R. S.
Liu
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
94
,
153115
(
2009
).
21.
C.
Luan
,
A.
Vaneski
,
A. S.
Susha
,
X.
Xu
,
H. E.
Wang
,
X.
Chen
,
J.
Xu
,
W.
Zhang
,
C.
Lee
,
A. L.
Rogach
, and
J. A.
Zapien
,
Nanoscale Res. Lett.
6
,
340
(
2011
).
22.
S.
Leschkies
,
R.
Divakar
,
J.
Basu
,
E.
Enache-Pommer
,
J. E.
Boercker
,
C. B.
Carter
,
U. R.
Kortshagen
,
D. J.
Norris
, and
E. S.
Aydil
,
Nano Lett.
7
,
1793
(
2007
).
23.
P. V.
Kamat
,
J. Phys. Chem. C
112
,
18737
(
2008
).
24.
H.
Zhang
,
G.
Chen
,
G.
Yang
,
J.
Zhang
, and
X.
Lu
,
J. Mater. Sci: Mater. Electron.
18
,
381
(
2007
).
25.
Y.
Zhu
and
Y.
Zhou
,
Appl. Phys. A
92
,
275
(
2008
).
26.
N.
Goswami
and
D. K.
Sharma
,
Physica E
42
,
1675
(
2010
).
27.
M.
Maleki
,
M. S.
Ghamsari
,
Sh.
Mirdamadi
, and
R.
Ghasemzadeh
,
Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics & Optoelectronics
10
,
30
(
2007
).
28.
M. J.
Pawar
and
S. S.
Chaure
,
Chalcogenide Lett.
6
,
689
(
2009
).
29.
P.
Nandakumar
and
C.
Vijayan
,
J. Appl. Phys.
19
,
1509
(
2002
).
30.
D. V.
Talapin
,
S. K.
Poznyak
,
N. P.
Gaponik
,
A. L.
Rogach
, and
A.
Eychmuller
,
Physica E
14
,
237
(
2002
).
31.
A. V.
Firth
,
S. W.
Haggata
,
P. K.
Khanna
,
S. J.
Williams
,
J. W.
Allen
,
S. W.
Magennis
,
I. D. W.
Samuel
, and
D. J.
Cole-Hamilton
,
J. Lumin.
109
,
163
(
2004
).
32.
X.
Ma
,
X.
Qian
,
J.
Yin
, and
Z.
Zhu
,
J. Mater. Chem.
12
,
663
(
2002
).
33.
L.
Han
,
D.
Qin
,
X.
Jiang
,
Y.
Liu
,
L.
Wang
,
J.
Chen
, and
Y.
Cao
,
Nanotechnology
17
,
4736
(
2006
).
34.
P. K.
Khanna
,
R. R.
Gokhale
,
V. V. V. S.
Subbarao
,
N.
Singh
,
K. W.
Jun
, and
B. K.
Das
,
Mater. Chem. Phys.
94
,
454
(
2005
).
35.
J.
Kuljanin-Jakovljevic
.
Z.
Stojanovic
, and
J. M.
Nedeljkovic
,
J. Mater. Chem. Phys.
41
,
5014
(
2006
).
36.
H.
Yao
and
N.
Kitamura
,
Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn.
69
,
1227
(
1996
).
37.
E. A.
Meulenkamp
,
J. Phys. Chem. B
102
,
5566
(
1998
).
38.
U.
Koch
,
A.
Fojtik
,
H.
Weller
, and
A.
Henglein
,
Chem. Phys. Lett.
122
,
507
(
1985
).
39.
L. E.
Brus
,
J. Chem. Phys.
80
,
4403
(
1984
).
40.
S. S.
Narayanan
and
S. K.
Pal
,
J. Phys. Chem. B
110
,
24403
(
2006
).
41.
P.
Gupta
and
M.
Ramakhiani
,
Open Nanosci. J.
3
,
15
(
2009
).
You do not currently have access to this content.