title: Factors determining the photovoltaic performance of a CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cell: the role of the linker molecule and of the counter electrode.
abstract: Colloidal CdSe quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes, prepared by a solvothermal route, have been employed as sensitizers of nanostructured TiO(2) electrode based solar cells. Three different bifunctional linker molecules have been used to attach colloidal QDs to the TiO(2) surface: mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), thioglycolic acid (TGA), and cysteine. The linker molecule plays a determinant role in the solar cell performance, as illustrated by the fact that the incident photon to charge carrier generation efficiency (IPCE) could be improved by a factor of 5-6 by using cysteine with respect to MPA. The photovoltaic properties of QD sensitized electrodes have been characterized for both three-electrode and closed two-electrode solar cell configurations. For three-electrode measurement a maximum power conversion efficiency near 1% can be deduced, but this efficiency is halved in the closed cell configuration mainly due to the decrease of the fill factor (FF).
authors.affiliation: Departament de Física, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castelló, Spain.
authors.forename: Iván
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mora-Seró
authors.forename: Sixto
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giménez
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moehl
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fabregat-Santiago
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lana-Villareal
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bisquert