Photovoltaic performance of Pb-doped CdS quantum dots for solar cell application

Abstract

The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method was employed to deposit the un-doped CdS and Pb-doped CdS quantum dots (QDs) with different doping concentrations over the TiO2 nanostructures. The systematic investigations of photoanode were carried out and the observed results reveal that the deposited sensitized layer has spherical morphology. Polycrystalline nature of the deposited film was observed, but the characteristic peaks for Pb or PbS are not observed. However, the presence of lead was confirmed through energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDX) and elemental mapping study. The superior optical absorption and photovoltaic performance were observed in the 2% Pb-doped CdS QDs sensitized cell. The corresponding cell parameter values such as η, Jsc, Voc and FF were 1.19%, 3.76 mA/cm2, 0.61 V and 51.5% respectively.