The Size Effect of TiO₂ Hollow Microspheres on Photovoltaic Performance of ZnS/CdS Quantum Dots Sensitized Solar Cell

Abstract

Size controllable TiO2 hollow microspheres (HMS) were synthesized by a carbonaceous spheres (CS) template method. Based on TiO2 HMS, the ZnS/CdS quantum dots (QDs) were loaded to form a ZnS/CdS@TiO2 HMS photoanode for quantum dots sensitized solar cell (QDSSC). The size effects of TiO2 HMS on photovoltaic performance were investigated, and showed that TiO2 HMS with sizes ~560 nm produced the best short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 8.02 mA cm−2 and highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.83%, showing a better photovoltaic performance than any other QDSSCs based on TiO2 HMS with size ~330 nm, ~400 nm, and ~700 nm. The improvement of photovoltaic performance based on ~560 nm TiO2 HMS which can be ascribed to the enhanced light harvesting efficiency caused by multiple light reflection and strong light scattering of TiO2 HMS. The ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra and incident photo to the current conversion efficiency (IPCE) test results confirmed that the size of TiO2 HMS has an obvious effect on light harvesting efficiency. A further application of ~560 nm TiO2 HMS in ZnS/PbS/CdS QDSSC can improve the PCE to 2.73%, showing that TiO2 HMS has wide applicability in the design of QDSSCs.

Keywords

• titanium dioxide
• hollow microspheres
• quantum dots sensitized solar cells