DOI: 10.1126/science.1069156. Hybrid Nanorod-Polymer Solar Cells

10.1126/science.1069156

Crossref journal-article

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Science (221)

Abstract

We demonstrate that semiconductor nanorods can be used to fabricate readily processed and efficient hybrid solar cells together with polymers. By controlling nanorod length, we can change the distance on which electrons are transported directly through the thin film device. Tuning the band gap by altering the nanorod radius enabled us to optimize the overlap between the absorption spectrum of the cell and the solar emission spectrum. A photovoltaic device consisting of 7-nanometer by 60-nanometer CdSe nanorods and the conjugated polymer poly-3(hexylthiophene) was assembled from solution with an external quantum efficiency of over 54% and a monochromatic power conversion efficiency of 6.9% under 0.1 milliwatt per square centimeter illumination at 515 nanometers. Under Air Mass (A.M.) 1.5 Global solar conditions, we obtained a power conversion efficiency of 1.7%.

Bibliography

Huynh, W. U., Dittmer, J. J., & Alivisatos, A. P. (2002). Hybrid Nanorod-Polymer Solar Cells. Science, 295(5564), 2425â2427.

Authors 3

Wendy U. Huynh (first)
Janke J. Dittmer (additional)
A. Paul Alivisatos (additional)

References 22 Referenced 4,620

10.1063/1.1345834
10.1002/pip.389
10.1063/1.123959
10.1126/science.270.5243.1789
10.1002/adma.19970091508
10.1002/1521-4095(200009)12:17<1270::AID-ADMA1270>3.0.CO;2-8
10.1080/10587259408038206
10.1103/PhysRevB.54.17628
10.1103/PhysRevB.59.10622
10.1021/jp960155m
10.1126/science.271.5251.933
10.1038/35003535
10.1021/ja003633m
10.1126/science.280.5370.1741
10.1002/(SICI)1521-4095(199908)11:11<923::AID-ADMA923>3.0.CO;2-T
We used between 5 and 15% pyridine in chloroform. The optimal amount of pyridine is determined by the number of nonpassivated Cd surface sites on the nanorods. An excess of pyridine however is to be avoided as this mediates the precipitation of P3HT which is insoluble in pyridine. Replacing chloroform with this solvent mixture leads to an increase in energy conversion efficiency of more than 50%.
The FF is defined as FF = {I·V}maxISC·VOC where I SC and V OC are short circuit current and open circuit voltage respectively. The power conversion efficiency is η = FF·ISC·VOClight intensity. The power conversion efficiency can be calculated both under monochromatic and white light (such as solar) illumination.
The sun simulator essentially consists of a 75 W xenon source and a set of Oriel A.M. 0 and A.M. 1.5 filters (Stratford CT). The temperature was maintained at 25°C verified by an in situ thermocouple by flowing argon past the device during measurements. The spectral overlap and intensity integral between the A.M. 1.5 Global standard (with spectral standard ASTM E892 Global and intensity of 96.4 mW/cm 2 ) and our sun simulator were optimized for the wavelength region in which the active layer shows absorption. The error in the simulation with regards to the obtained photocurrent is ∼10%.
B. O'Regan
10.1038/353737a0
The results reported represent the median of five sets of devices made on separate occasions from three different synthetic batches of CdSe totaling 57 individual solar cells. The maximum external quantum efficiency of each of these 57 devices are all within 10% relative to the median with the highest obtained efficiency at 59% all under ∼0.1 mW/cm 2 monochromatic illumination. Individual devices have been characterized repeatedly over the time scale of several months and showed no substantial change between measurements.
Supported by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (grant XAD-9-18668-02) and the DOE (contracts DE-AC03-76SF00098 and DE-AC03-76SF00098). We are grateful to the Robert D. Ogg Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley for assistance with the TEM work and providing cross sections. The authors also would like to thank G. Whiting and W. Libby for experimental assistance and L. Manna D. Milliron J. Frechet and C. Pitois for their valuable discussions. W.U.H. thanks the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for a fellowship.

Dates

Type	When
Created	23 years ago (July 27, 2002, 5:35 a.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 9, 2024, 10:06 p.m.)
Indexed	2 days, 18 hours ago (Aug. 19, 2025, 5:57 a.m.)
Issued	23 years, 4 months ago (March 29, 2002)
Published	23 years, 4 months ago (March 29, 2002)
Published Print	23 years, 4 months ago (March 29, 2002)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Huynh_2002, title={Hybrid Nanorod-Polymer Solar Cells}, volume={295}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1069156}, DOI={10.1126/science.1069156}, number={5564}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Huynh, Wendy U. and Dittmer, Janke J. and Alivisatos, A. Paul}, year={2002}, month=mar, pages={2425–2427} }

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