Efficient Nanocrystal Photovoltaics via Blade Coating Active Layer

Advances in Nanomaterials for Photovoltaic Applications

The development of novel nanomaterials became a subject of intensive research, due to high market needs for innovative applications in virtually all aspects of life [...].

Study on the Aqueous CdTe Quantum Dots Solar Device Deposited by Blade Coating on Magnesium Zinc Oxide Window Layer

Aqueous CdTe quantum dots solar cells have been successfully fabricated by the blade coating method on the magnesium zinc oxide (Zn_1−xMg_xO or ZMO) window layer. Compared with the ZMO mono-window layer, the ZMO/CdS bi-window layer can decrease the interface recombination effectively due to the lower lattice mismatch and fast interdiffusion between CdS and CdTe. Moreover, the high temperature annealing of the CdTe quantum dots absorbed layer passivates the grain boundary of the CdTe crystalline via the replacement reaction of tellurium with sulfur. Finally, the conversion efficiency of our aqueous CdTe quantum dots solar device is improved from 3.21% to 8.06% with the introduction of the CdS interlayer and high temperature CdCl₂ annealing. Our aqueous CdTe quantum dots solar devices show a large open circuit voltage and fill factor which are comparable with the conventional devices that are fabricated with organic CdTe quantum dots. We believe that it is the spike-like conduction band alignment between the ZMO and CdTe absorbed layer that reduces the majority carrier concentration, leading to the decrease in interface recombination probability.