Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T10:33:48.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Synthesis and Characterization of Rare Earth (Tb3+ and Yb3+) Doped CdS/ZnS Core/Shell Nanocrystals for Enhanced Photovoltaic Efficiency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2011

Sandip Das
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Krishna C. Mandal
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Get access

Abstract

CdS host nanocrystals with 4.2-5.5 nm in diameter have been synthesized from air stable precursors via a synthetic chemical route and doped with rare earth (RE) terbium (Tb3+) and ytterbium (Yb3+) ions. RE3+-doped CdS cores were shelled by ZnS layers of different thicknesses. The resulting core/shell nanocrystals show a complete broadband absorption below 400-460 nm to the deep UV region depending on the size of the cores. RE3+-doped CdS nanocrystals showed a red shift in the emission as observed under irradiation of 302 nm UV light and was confirmed by room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The nanocrystals were further characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis. The results show that these RE3+-doped nanocrystals can be used as solar spectral matching downconversion material to enhance photovoltaic efficiency of existing solar cells.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Yang, Heesun, and Holloway, Paul H., Appl. Phys Lett., 82 (2003) 1965.Google Scholar
2. Zeng, Ruosheng, Rutherford, Michael, Xie, Renguo, Zou, Bingsuo, and Peng, Xiaogang, Chem. Mater., 22 (2010) 2107.Google Scholar
3. Mandal, Krishna C., Kang, Sung H., Choi, Michael, and David Rauh, R., Int. J. High Speed Electronics and Sys., 18 (2008) 735.Google Scholar
4. Rademaker, Katja, Krupke, William F., Page, Ralph H., Payne, Stephen A., Petermann, Klaus, Huber, Guenter, Yelisseyev, Alexander P., Isaenko, Ludmila I., Roy, Utpal N., Burger, Arnold, Mandal, Krishna C., and Nitsch, Karel, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 21 (2004) 2117.Google Scholar
5. Huang, X. Y., Yu, D.C., and Zhang, Q.Y., J. Appl. Phys., 106 (2009) 113521.Google Scholar
6. Ye, Song, Zhu, Bin, Chen, Jingxin, Luo, Jin, and Qiu, Jian Rong, Appl. Phys. Lett., 92 (2008) 141112.Google Scholar
7. Wang, Yuhua, Xie, Lechun, and Zhang, Huijuan, J. Appl. Phys., 105 (2009) 023528.Google Scholar
8. Lee, Te-Ju, Luo, Li-Yang, Diau, Eric Wei-Guang, and Chen, Teng-Ming, Appl. Phys. Lett., 89 (2006) 131121.Google Scholar
9. Zhang, Qiuhong, Wang, Jing, Zhang, Gongguo, and Su, Qiang, J. Mater. Chem., 19 (2009) 7088.Google Scholar
10. Yu, W. William, and Peng, Xiaogang, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 41 (2002) 2368 Google Scholar
11. Yang, Yongan, Chen, Ou, Angerhofer, Alexander, and Cao, Charles, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130 (2008) 15649.Google Scholar
12. Xie, Renguo, Kolb, Ute, Li, Jixue, Basché, Thomas, and Mews, Alf, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127 (2005) 7480.Google Scholar
13. Yu, W. William, Qu, Lianhua, Guo, Wenzhuo, and Peng, Xiaogang, Chem. Mater., 15 (2003), 2854.Google Scholar