Effect of Polyethylene Glycol on the NiO Photocathode

Shengjun Li; Zeng Chen; Wenping Kong; Xiyang Jia; Junhao Cai; Shaokang Dong

doi:10.1186/s11671-017-2267-6

Effect of Polyethylene Glycol on the NiO Photocathode

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Aug 17;12(1):501. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-2267-6.

Authors

Shengjun Li¹, Zeng Chen², Wenping Kong², Xiyang Jia², Junhao Cai², Shaokang Dong²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Materials of Henan Province and School of Physics and Electronic, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475001, People's Republic of China. Lishengjun1011@126.com.
² Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Materials of Henan Province and School of Physics and Electronic, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475001, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

In this study, a uniform nanoporous NiO film, with a thickness of up to 2.6 μm, was prepared using polyethylene glycol (PEG). The addition of PEG significantly decreased the cracks in the NiO film and prevented the peeling of the NiO film from a fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate. The NiO cathode was prepared using CdSeS quantum dots (QDs) as the sensitizer, with an optimized photoelectric conversion of 0.80%. The optimized QD-sensitized NiO films were first assembled with the TiO₂ anode to prepared QD-sensitized p-n-type tandem solar cells. The open circuit voltage was greater than that obtained using the separated NiO cathode or TiO₂ anode.

Keywords: Nickel oxide; Photocathode; Polyethylene glycol; Quantum dots; p–n-Type tandem solar cells.