Energy Transfer from CdSe/ZnS Nanocrystals to Zinc-Phthalocyanine for Advanced Photon Harvesting in Organic Photovoltaics

Abstract

Due to the limited spectral width of absorption in organic dyes, it is necessary to look for strategies to enhance the spectral photon harvesting in organic solar cells. Investigations of the energy transfer between zinc-phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and CdSe/ZnS core shell nanocrystals are performed and show a highly efficient energy transfer and no sign of a competing charge transfer mechanism. The dependence of the energy transfer efficiency on the length of the alkyl spacers around the nanoparticles is investigated. The integration of semiconductor nanoparticles into a photodiode based on ZnPc yields increased sensitivity of the device in the green spectral range.