In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 9, No. 1 ( 2018-06-13)
Abstract:
Thermalization losses limit the photon-to-power conversion of solar cells at the high-energy side of the solar spectrum, as electrons quickly lose their energy relaxing to the band edge. Hot-electron transfer could reduce these losses. Here, we demonstrate fast and efficient hot-electron transfer between lead selenide and cadmium selenide quantum dots assembled in a quantum-dot heterojunction solid. In this system, the energy structure of the absorber material and of the electron extracting material can be easily tuned via a variation of quantum-dot size, allowing us to tailor the energetics of the transfer process for device applications. The efficiency of the transfer process increases with excitation energy as a result of the more favorable competition between hot-electron transfer and electron cooling. The experimental picture is supported by time-domain density functional theory calculations, showing that electron density is transferred from lead selenide to cadmium selenide quantum dots on the sub-picosecond timescale.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
DOI:
10.1038/s41467-018-04623-9
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2018
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0
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