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Research Article

Efficient quantum dot infrared solar cells with enhanced low-energy photon conversion via optical engineering

Sisi Liu1,§, Ming-Yu Li1,§, Kao Xiong2, Jianbo Gao3, Xinzheng Lan2, Daoli Zhang2, Liang Gao2( ), Jianbing Zhang2,4,5( ), Jiang Tang2,6
School of Science, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
School of Optical and Electronic Information, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China
Department of Chemistry, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
Wenzhou Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Institute, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wenzhou 325035, China
Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China
Optics Valley Laboratory, Wuhan 430074, China

§ Sisi Liu and Ming-Yu Li contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

An optical resonance cavity is constructed to boost the utilization of low-energy infrared (IR) photons (1,150–1,300 nm) for quantum dot (QD) solar cells. Benefiting from the enhanced light harvesting and efficient carrier extraction, highly efficient photoelectric conversion in the IR region (> 1,100 nm,1.3%) of PbS QD IR solar cells is obtained, which is comparable to the highest value of QD IR solar cells.

Abstract

Infrared (IR) solar cells are promising devices for improving the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of conventional solar cells by expanding the utilization region of the sunlight spectrum to near-infrared range. IR solar cells based on colloidal quantum dots (QDs) have attracted extensive attention due to the widely tunable absorption spectrum controlled by dot size and the unique solution processibility. However, the trade-off in QD solar cells between light absorption and photo-generated carrier collection has limited the further improvement of PCE. Here, we present high-performance PbS QD IR solar cells resulting from the combination of boosted light absorption and optimized carrier extraction. By constructing an optical resonance cavity, the light absorption is significantly enhanced in the range of 1,150–1,300 nm at a relatively thin photoactive layer. Meanwhile, the thin photoactive layer facilitates efficient carrier extraction. Consequently, the PbS QD IR solar cells exhibit a highly efficient photoelectric conversion in the IR region, resulting in a high IR PCE of 1.3% which is comparable to the highest value of solution-processed IR solar cells based on PbSe QDs. These results demonstrate that constructing an optical resonance cavity is a reasonable strategy for effective conversion of photons in the devices aiming at light in a relatively narrow wavelength range, such as IR solar cells and narrow band photodetectors.

Keywords

infrared solar cellsPbS quantum dotsoptical resonancecarrier extraction

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 2,
February 2023
Pages 2392-2398
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4906-1
Cite this article:
Liu S, Li M-Y, Xiong K, et al. Efficient quantum dot infrared solar cells with enhanced low-energy photon conversion via optical engineering. Nano Research, 2023, 16(2): 2392-2398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4906-1
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Received: 27 July 2022
Revised: 12 August 2022
Accepted: 14 August 2022
Published: 07 October 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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