Preparation and characterization of NiO photocathodes sensitized with PbS quantum dots

Abstract

The nanosized tremella-like NiO was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method at low temperature. A novelty modified (CH3)4N)2S/((CH3)4N)2Sn electrolyte was introduced in solar cell successfully and NiS as the counter electrode. Moreover, PbS sensitized p-type NiO was synthesized by chemical bath deposition (CBD) in an precursor solution to ensure the nanosized tremella-like NiO films obtain a better uniformity and high penetration. At the same time, a series of comparative experiments were designed for studying the influence of mesoporous NiO film thickness on the photoelectron characteristic of the cells. The result indicated that when there were three layers of screen printing and the thickness of NiO film was approximately 3 pm, the maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.87% was achieved, with 512 mV of Voc, 0.33% of ff and 5.14 mA cm-2 of Jsc.