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PbSe nanocrystal/conducting polymer solar cells with an infrared response to 2 micron

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Xiaomei Jiang ,
Richard D. Schaller ,
Sergey B. Lee ,
Jeffrey M. Pietryga ,
Victor I. Klimov  and
Anvar A. Zakhidov
Xiaomei Jiang*
Affiliation:
Nanotech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083; and Physics Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620
Richard D. Schaller
Affiliation:
Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Sergey B. Lee
Affiliation:
Nanotech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083; and Plextronics, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15238
Jeffrey M. Pietryga
Affiliation:
Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Victor I. Klimov
Affiliation:
Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Anvar A. Zakhidov
Affiliation:
Nanotech Institute, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083; and Physics Department, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75083
*
a)e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We investigated the photovoltaic response of nanocomposites made of colloidal, infrared-sensitive, PbSe nanocrystals (NCs) of various sizes and conjugated polymers of either regioregular poly (3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) or poly- (2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexoxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV). The conduction and valence energy levels of PbSe NCs were determined by cyclic voltammetry and revealed type II heterojunction alignment with respect to energy levels in RR-P3HT for smaller NC sizes. Devices composed of NCs and RR-P3HT show good diode characteristics and sizable photovoltaic response in a spectral range from the ultraviolet to the infrared. Using these materials, we have observed photovoltaic response at wavelengths as far to the infrared as 2 μm (0.6 eV), which is desirable due to potential benefits of carrier multiplication (or multi-exciton generation) from a single junction photovoltaic. Under reverse bias, the devices also exhibit good photodiode responses over the same spectral region.

Keywords

PhotovoltaicPolymerNanostructure
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 8 , August 2007 , pp. 2204 - 2210
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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References

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