Wire-shaped quantum dots-sensitized solar cells based on nanosheets and nanowires

Wire-shaped quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (WS-QDSCs) based on nanosheets and nanowires were fabricated and investigated for this paper. The nanosheets grown on stainless steel (SS) wire by electrodeposition were mainly composed of Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O and most of the Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂·H₂O was converted to ZnO by post-treatment, and ZnO nanowires were directly grown on SS wire by the hydrothermal method. CdS QDs were deposited on nanosheets and nanowires by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method. The results of photoelectrochemical performance indicated that WS-QDSCs showed a similar conversion efficiency in polysulfide and Na₂SO₄ electrolytes, while the WS-QDSCs based on the Cu2S counter electrode achieved much higher performance than those based on SS and Cu counter electrodes. By optimizing electrodeposition duration, the WS-QDSCs based on nanosheets presented the highest conversion efficiency of 0.60% for the duration of 20 min. Performance comparison indicated that the WS-QDSC based on nanosheets showed very superior performance to that based on the nanowires with similar film thickness.