Facile fabrication of CdS-poly(3-hexylthiophene) hybrid film with improved photo-current response for heterojunction solar cells

Huimin JIA, Weiwei HE, Yidong ZHANG, Yan LEI, Yong XIANG, Shu ZHANG, Zhi ZHENG*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

CdS nanostructured thin films have been directly fabricated on indium-tin oxide (ITO) glass substrates through a one-step solvothermal process involving a cadmium nanocrystal layer and sulfur powder in N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF). Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) was then infiltrated into the CdS framework. The CdS film and the CdS-P3HT hybrid film were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and UV-vis spectroscopy. CdS-P3HT hybrid film exhibited a wider absorption in the solar spectrum and stronger photo-current response and external quantum efficiency than a pure CdS and P3HT film. Hybrid solar cell devices have been constructed based on the CdS-P3HT hybrid film with structure ITO-CdS-P3HT-Au. The effects of sulfur sources, solvent and thickness of elemental cadmium films on the photovoltaic performance of CdS-P3HT hybrid solar cells were assessed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3017-3023
Number of pages7
JournalNew Journal of Chemistry
Volume37
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2013
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61204009, 21273192), Program for Science & Technology Innovation Teams in Universities of Henan Province (2012 IRTSTHN021), Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Henan Province (Grant No. 104100510001), Innovation Scientists and Technicians Team Projects of Henan Province Program for Basic and Advanced Technology of Henan Province (Grant No. 112300410106, 124300510055), Research Key Projects of Science and Technology of Henan Province (Grant No. 12A150022) and Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province, China (Grant No. 2009B150024 and 2011B150035). We thank Dr Wayne G. Wamer from U.S. FDA (College Park, MD, USA) for his kind comments on this paper.

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