Green synthesis of highly efficient CdSe quantum dots for quantum-dots-sensitized solar cells

Green synthesis of CdSe quantum dots for application in the quantum-dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is investigated in this work. The CdSe QDs were prepared with glycerol as the solvent, with sharp emission peak, full width at half maximum around 30 nm, and absorption peak from 475 nm to 510 nm. The reaction is environmental friendly and energy saving. What's more, the green synthesized CdSe QDs are coherence to the maximum remittance region of the solar spectrum and suitable as sensitizers to assemble onto TiO2 electrodes for cell devices application. What's more, the dynamic procedure of the carriers' excitation, transportation, and recombination in the QDSCs are discussed. Because the recombination of the electrons from the conduction band of TiO2's to the electrolyte affects the efficiency of the solar cells greatly, 3-Mercaptopropionic acid capped water-dispersible QDs were used to cover the surface of TiO2. The resulting green synthesized CdSe QDSCs with Cu2S as the electrode show a photovoltaic performance with a conversion efficiency of 3.39%