Quantum dot sensitized solar cells have the potential to improve solar cell devices. One promising direction of research is the post synthetic modification of quantum dot surface ligands. A smaller ligand has shown to improve device performance because there is less distance between the TiO<sub>2</sub> paste and the quantum dot, aiding in more efficient electron flow. Cadmium Selenide quantum dots have shown to be a suitable candidate for the fabrication of the solar cells. Solar cells are constructed using FTO conductive glass, TiO<sub>2</sub> paste, and an electrolyte solution to help facilitate electron flow. In this project, quantum dots solar cells, utilizing surface ligands of varying lengths and chemical nature, were constructed and measured for their efficiency. The size of the quantum dot, the temperature, ambient light, and the angle of incident light were kept constant for each solar cell to identify how quantum dot ligand identity affects the performance of the device.

Effect of Ligand Identity on Quantum Dot Sensitized Solar Cell Performance

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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