CdSe-TiO2 nanocomposites film deposited by electrophoretic co-deposition towards quantum dots sensitized solar cells

Abstract

In this paper, cadmium selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles were used in quantum dots sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) as photosensitizer. Electrophoretic co-deposition was employed to deposit cadmium selenide – titanium dioxide (CdSe-TiO2) nanoparticles for the preparation of the QDSSC photoanode. Co-deposition of CdSe-TiO2 were used to prevent the need of thermal treatment to the photoanode which could cause cracks on surface. The formation of CdSe-TiO2 nanocomposites could increase the electron injection speed due to interdigitated between CdSe and TiO2 nanoparticles. CdSe nanoparticles were prepared using hot injection methods at reaction temperature 300 °C for 1 min reaction time. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles solution was prepared using surface modification by propionic acid and n-hexylamine. Cu2S/Brass counter electrode was used with polysulphide electrolyte. Prior to electrophoretic deposition (EPD), the CdSe nanoparticles solution were purified for two times. The efficiency of the QDSSC assembled with photoanode deposited with 250 V and 90 s was the highest amongst of the other EPD parameter studied, were at 2.920 × 10−3 %.