SILAR controlled CdSe nanoparticles sensitized ZnO nanorods photoanode for solar cell application: Electrolyte effect

Pratibha R Nikam; Prashant K Baviskar; Sutripto Majumder; Jaydeep V Sali; Babasaheb R Sankapal

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.111

SILAR controlled CdSe nanoparticles sensitized ZnO nanorods photoanode for solar cell application: Electrolyte effect

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Aug 15:524:148-155. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.111. Epub 2018 Apr 4.

Authors

Pratibha R Nikam¹, Prashant K Baviskar², Sutripto Majumder³, Jaydeep V Sali¹, Babasaheb R Sankapal⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon 425001, India.
² Advanced Physics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune 411007, India. Electronic address: pkbaviskar@physics.unipune.ac.in.
³ Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Raipur, G.E. Road, Raipur, Chattisgarh 492010, India; Nano Materials and Device Laboratory, Department of Physics, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, South Ambazari Road, Nagpur 440010, India.
⁴ Nano Materials and Device Laboratory, Department of Physics, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, South Ambazari Road, Nagpur 440010, India. Electronic address: brsankapal@phy.vnit.ac.in.

PMID: 29649623
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.111

Abstract

Controlled growth of different sizes of cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles over well aligned ZnO nanorods have been performed using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique at room temperature (27 °C) in order to form nano heterostructure solar cells. Deposition of compact layer of zinc oxide (ZnO) by SILAR technique on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrate followed by growth of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods array using chemical bath deposition (CBD) at low temperature (<100 °C). Different characterization techniques viz. X-ray diffractometer, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been used to know the structural, optical, morphological and compositional properties of synthesized nano heterostructure. The photovoltaic performance of the cells with variation in SILAR cycles for CdSe and with use of different electrolytes have been recorded as J-V characteristics and the maximum conversion efficiency of 0.63% have been attained with ferro/ferri cyanide electrolyte for 12 cycles CdSe coating over 1-D ZnO nanorods.

Keywords: 1-D ZnO nanorods; CdSe; EIS; Electrolyte effect; Nano heterostructure solar cell; SILAR; Wet chemistry.