Understanding the Effect of Surface Chemistry on Charge Generation and Transport in Poly (3-hexylthiophene)/CdSe Hybrid Solar Cells

Abstract

For hybrid solar cells, interfacial chemistry is one of the most critical factors for good device performance. We have demonstrated that the size of the surface ligands and the dispersion of nanoparticles in the solvent and in the polymer are important criteria in obtaining optimized device performance. The size of the ligands will affect the charge transport at the particle/particle and particle/polymer interfaces and the chemical structures of the ligands will determine their compatibility with the solvent and polymer. Hence other than pyridine, 2-thiophenemethylamine also showed good potential as ligand replacement for poly(3-hexylthiophene)/CdSe hybrid solar cells. With the right ligand combination, we have shown that the power conversion efficiency improved by a factor of 6 after ligand exchange.

Introduction to Organic Solar Cells

“…Combination of p-type organic materials and n-type inorganic materials form the hybrid solar cells that take advantages of the beneficial properties of both types of materials such as the solution processability of organic semiconductors and high electron mobilities of inorganic semiconductors. In recent years, various hybrid solar cells have been reported by employing p-type organic materials and n-type inorganic nanoparticles including quantum dots of CdS [84], CdSe [85], CdTe [86], PdS [87], Cd x Hg 1-x Te [88], Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 [89], and Cu 2 InS [90]; nano rods of CdSe [91] and tetrapods of CdSe [92], and CdTe [93]. The best performance of hybrid solar cells with an efficiency of 5.5 % to date was achieved by combining PDTPBT as the donor and PbS 0.6 Se 0.4 alloyed QDs as the acceptor [94].…”

Using magnetic nanoparticles Fe3O4 as a reusable catalyst for the synthesis of pyran and pyridine derivatives via one-pot multicomponent reaction

“…In addition, their paramagnetic nature allows their facile and effective separation from the reaction mixture, without using standard filtration, required in separation of heterogeneous catalysts. Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 ) can be easily separated from reaction mixture by using just an external magnet [21].Thus, in recent years, nano-Fe 3 O 4 [22] has attracted a great attention as heterogeneous catalyst [23] due to its simple handling, easy of recovery with an external magnetic field [24,25]. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have Abstract An atom-economical, efficient and mild protocol is described for the synthesis of 2-amino-3-cyanopyridine and 2-amino-3-cyano-4H-pyran derivatives in the presence of high surface area Fe 3 O 4 as a highly effective heterogeneous catalyst via one-pot multicomponent cyclocondensation reaction.…”

“…Thus, in recent years, nano-Fe 3 O 4 [22] has attracted a great attention as heterogeneous catalyst [23] due to its simple handling, easy of recovery with an external magnetic field [24,25]. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have Abstract An atom-economical, efficient and mild protocol is described for the synthesis of 2-amino-3-cyanopyridine and 2-amino-3-cyano-4H-pyran derivatives in the presence of high surface area Fe 3 O 4 as a highly effective heterogeneous catalyst via one-pot multicomponent cyclocondensation reaction.…”

Hybrid heterostructures based on aromatic polyimide and semiconductor CdSe quantum dots for photovoltaic applications

“…2 Embedding of QD into composite materials for optoelectronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes and photovoltaic cells, has been attracted much attention recently. [3][4][5] Addition of QD to a semiconductor polymer widens the absorption spectrum of the QD-polymer structure and ensures efficient charge transfer. 6 Furthermore, by varying the QD size, one can adjust the energy levels to ensure efficient charge separation, which considerably improves the photoelectric characteristics of hybrid nanomaterials.…”