Lead sulfide nanocrystal: conducting polymer solar cells

PbSe nanocrystal/conducting polymer solar cells with an infrared response to 2 micron

We investigated the photovoltaic response of nanocomposites made of colloidal, infrared-sensitive, PbSe nanocrystals (NCs) of various sizes and conjugated polymers of either regioregular poly (3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) or poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexoxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV). The conduction and valence energy levels of PbSe NCs were determined by cyclic voltammetry and revealed t...

Controlling the morphology of nanocrystal-polymer composites for solar cells

We have shown recently that the use of high aspect ratio inorganic nanorods in conjunction with conjugated polymers is a route to obtaining efficient solar cells processed from solution. Here, we demonstrate that the use of binary solvent mixtures in which one of the components is a ligand for the nanocrystals is effective in controlling the dispersion of nanocrystals in a polymer. By varying t...

Conducting Polymer and Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Hybrid Solar Cells

A silicon nanocrystal/polymer nanocomposite as a down-conversion layer in organic and hybrid solar cells.

Silicon nanocrystal (Si-nc) down-conversion is demonstrated to enhance organic and hybrid organic/inorganic bulk heterojunction solar cells based on PTB7:[70]PCBM bulk heterojunction devices. Surfactant free surface-engineered Si-ncs can be integrated into the device architecture to be optically active and provide a means of effective down-conversion of blue photons (high energy photons below ∼...

Influence of nanoparticle shape on charge transport and recombination in polymer/nanocrystal solar cells.

A key consideration for the efficient operation of hybrid solar cells based upon conjugated polymers and inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals is charge transport in the nanocrystal phase. Here we report the results of a study into the charge transport kinetics of polymer/nanocrystal solar cells based on blends poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with either CdSe nano-dots or CdSe nano-tetrapods. Tran...