Synthesis, structural, optical and dielectric properties of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles as photocathode for a solar cell

Abstract

Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were prepared by chemical co-precipitation method using cadmium acetate, sodium sulfide and tetrabutylam-monium bromide (TBAB) as a capping agent. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by using UV-Vis spectroscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopic analysis (FESEM), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and BET surface area nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. The band gap of capped CdS was calculated by using UV-Vis absorption spectrum as 3.23 eV. The X-ray diffraction pattern revealed that the synthesized cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were polycrystalline nature with wurtzite hexagonal structure and crystallite size was calculated as 7.2 nm by using Debye Scherer method. The surface area, pore volume and pore size were found to be 93.15 m2 /g, 1.64 × 10−2 cm3/g and 6.2 Å by BET nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss and AC conductivities were studied over a range of frequency (50 Hz–5 MHz) and temperature (40–200 °C). Solar cell was fabricated using cadmium sulfide as photocathode, titanium dioxide as photoanode, potassium iodide/iodine as an electrolyte solution, ruthenium dye as a sensitizer and power conversion efficiency was found to be 2.7 %.