Study the photovoltaic performance of pure and Cd-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by reflux method

Abstract

Abstract In the present work, cadmium doped zinc oxide (Cd-ZnO) nanocrystals have been prepared by the reflux method. The effect of Cd doping on the structural, morphological, optical and photovoltaic properties has been investigated. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction reveals that polycrystalline nature increases with increasing cadmium incorporation. The particle size shows an increasing trend with increasing cadmium impurification. The average particle size for pure ZnO is 32·19 nm and it augments to 57.94 nm for 10% Cd:ZnO. The strong preferred c-axis orientation is found due to cadmium doping and degree of polycrystallinity of the crystallites also increases with increasing Cd incorporation. Integration of cadmium was confirmed from elemental analysis using EDX. SEM technique proved that the successfully coated the surfaces of the nanostructures. The optical bandgap of the films decreases with increasing Cd dopant. The value of fundamental absorption edge is 3·24 eV for pure ZnO and it decreases to 3·18 eV for 10% Cd:ZnO. The photovoltaic performance was simultaneously enhanced with Cd doing significantly. The results showed that the described synthetic method is appropriate for the preparation of doped nanostructures with high photovoltaic results.