Harnessing the N-dopant ratio in carbon quantum dots for enhancing the power conversion efficiency of solar cells

Nowadays, green materials are being prepared to a greater extent to conserve the environment. Due to their outstanding properties, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are becoming the alternatives of the conventional semiconductor-based quantum dots and organic dyes. We reported the one-step synthesis of CQD...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainable energy & fuels 2019-10, Vol.3 (11), p.3182-319
Main Authors: Mistry, Bhavita, Machhi, Hiren K, Vithalani, Ravi S, Patel, Dikin S, Modi, Chetan K, Prajapati, Meha, Surati, Kiran R, Soni, Saurabh S, Jha, Prafulla K, Kane, Sanjeev R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
Competitiveness
Electrons
Energy conversion efficiency
Fabrication
Fourier transforms
Infrared spectroscopy
Nitrogen
Photoelectron spectroscopy
Photoelectrons
Photoluminescence
Photons
Photovoltaic cells
Quantum dots
Raman spectroscopy
Solar cells
Solar power
Spectrum analysis
Sustainable materials
Titanium dioxide
Transmission electron microscopy
X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Nowadays, green materials are being prepared to a greater extent to conserve the environment. Due to their outstanding properties, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are becoming the alternatives of the conventional semiconductor-based quantum dots and organic dyes. We reported the one-step synthesis of CQDs and nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) by the solvothermal treatment of green and renewable non-centrifugal cane sugar. The successful syntheses of CQDs and NCQDs were substantiated by various physicochemical techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photoluminescence quantum yields of CQDs and NCQDs were observed to be 5.2% and 9.8%, respectively. Due to their commendable photostability, these NCQDs with different loadings of nitrogen were applied as green sensitizers in TiO 2 -based solar cells. These NCQDs achieved the highest power conversion efficiency of 1.20% under 0.1 sun illumination (AM 1.5). We believe that this competitiveness of the fabrication of CQDs from the cheapest and green source is the most promising and useful for light harvesting. Nowadays, green materials are being discovered to a greater extent to conserve the environment.
ISSN:2398-4902
2398-4902
DOI:10.1039/c9se00338j