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Quantum dot solar cells

The surface plays a core role

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 772–773 (2014)Cite this article

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Mastering the impact of surface chemistry on the electronic properties and stability of colloidal quantum dots enables the realization of architectures with enhanced photovoltaic performance and air stability.

With atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide sky rocketing and energy demand expanding in lock-step with the emergence of growing world economies, there is an increasingly urgent need to identify technologies that efficiently produce renewable energy and that could be manufactured cost-effectively. Solar cells based on light-absorbing materials that can be processed from solvent dispersions, such as organic semiconductors or colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, may offer a compelling cost-efficiency trade-off to compete with conventional energy sources across broad market segments. However, in the case of colloidal nanocrystals (or quantum dots) their large surface area has posed a challenge and efficiencies of quantum dot solar cells have so far lagged behind1. The abrupt termination of the crystalline bonding network can leave a high density of electronic trap states, demanding that researchers develop innovative surface chemistries to passivate these traps. Reporting in Nature Materials, two independent groups now address this problem and describe the fabrication of efficient solar cells based on lead sulphide (PbS) colloidal quantum dots that can be processed in ambient conditions and operate stably in air for several days.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of dipoles (blue arrows) on two length scales contributing to the electronic structure of a quantum-dot solar-cell junction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Delia J. Milliron is in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA,

    Delia J. Milliron

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  1. Delia J. Milliron
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Correspondence to Delia J. Milliron.

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Milliron, D. The surface plays a core role. Nature Mater 13, 772–773 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4032

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