Size Control of PbS Colloidal Quantum Dots and Their Application to Photovoltaic Devices

Quantum dots (QDs) are attracting growing attention for photovoltaic device applications because of their unique electronic, optical and physical properties. Lead sulfide (PbS) QDs are one of the most widely studied materials for the devices and known to have size-tunable properties. In this context, we investigated the relationship between the size of PbS QDs and two synthesizing conditions, a concentration of ligand, oleic acid in this work, and injection temperature. The inverted colloidal quantum dot solar cells based on the heterojunction of n-type zinc oxide layer and p-type PbS QDs were also fabricated. The size of the QDs and cell properties were observed to depend on both the QD synthesizing conditions, and hence the overall efficiency of the cell could vary even though the size of QDs used was same. The QD synthesizing conditions were finally optimized for the maximum cell efficiency.