Air-Stable and Efficient PbSe Quantum-Dot Solar Cells Based upon ZnSe to PbSe Cation-Exchanged Quantum Dots

Sungwoo Kim; Ashley R Marshall; Daniel M Kroupa; Elisa M Miller; Joseph M Luther; Sohee Jeong; Matthew C Beard

doi:10.1021/acsnano.5b02326

Air-Stable and Efficient PbSe Quantum-Dot Solar Cells Based upon ZnSe to PbSe Cation-Exchanged Quantum Dots

ACS Nano. 2015 Aug 25;9(8):8157-64. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5b02326. Epub 2015 Aug 6.

Authors

Sungwoo Kim^{1

2}, Ashley R Marshall^{1

3}, Daniel M Kroupa^{1

3}, Elisa M Miller¹, Joseph M Luther¹, Sohee Jeong², Matthew C Beard¹

Affiliations

¹ National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
² Nanomechanical Systems Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials , Daejeon 305-343, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado , Boulder, Colorado 80309, United States.

PMID: 26222812
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5b02326

Abstract

We developed a single step, cation-exchange reaction that produces air-stable PbSe quantum dots (QDs) from ZnSe QDs and PbX2 (X = Cl, Br, or I) precursors. The resulting PbSe QDs are terminated with halide anions and contain residual Zn cations. We characterized the PbSe QDs using UV-vis-NIR absorption, photoluminescence quantum yield spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Solar cells fabricated from these PbSe QDs obtained an overall best power conversion efficiency of 6.47% at one sun illumination. The solar cell performance without encapsulation remains unchanged for over 50 days in ambient conditions; and after 50 days, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory certification team certified the device at 5.9%.

Keywords: PbSe QDs; cation exchange; halide passivation; quantum dots; solar cells.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.