Investigation of multilayered quantum dot-sensitized solar cells with different Zn chalcogenide passivation layers

In the case of cadmium sulfide (CdS) and cadmium selenide (CdSe)-based quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs), the addition of a zinc sulfide (ZnS) passivation layer improves the solar cell performance. In this study, multilayered QDSSCs were fabricated using CdS and CdSe quantum dots prepared by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The optimized QDSSCs were used to study the passivation effect of zinc chalcogenide layers: ZnS, zinc selenide (ZnSe), and zinc telluride (ZnTe). The best performing solar cell prepared from four SILAR cycles of CdS followed by six SILAR cycles of CdSe were used for subsequent deposition of Zn chalcogenide layers. It was observed that capping with ZnSe or ZnTe layer on the multilayered Cd chalcogenide QDs did not improve the solar cell performance. Only the addition of ZnS layer contributed to the better performance of the solar cell. The efficiency obtained in the optimized multilayered CdS/CdSe QDSSC with ZnS layer was 1.37 %, while the QDSSC with ZnSe or ZnTe capping showed lower performance. The behavior of the solar cells is explained with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy study.