Synthesis and characterization of the interaction of ZnO and CdTe photoluminescent quantum dots for photovoltaic applications

We discuss the synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) quantum dots (QDs), the characterization of their optical properties on their own as well as combined, and their influence on the power conversion efficiency of photovoltaic structures when the QD blends were dispersed in a polymeric solution and deployed on the window surface of polycrystalline Si solar cells as down-shifting photoluminescent (PL) coatings. Upon the incorporation of increasing amounts of ZnO QDs into a colloidal solution of CdTe, the characteristic CdTe PL peak location was monotonically red-shifted from 598 nm to 611 nm. A 1:3 volumetric combination CdTe:ZnO QDs exhibited a the power conversion efficiency increase from 14.71% for an uncoated solar cell to 15.02% with the QD layer, that is, an approximate improvement of approximately 2%.