The effect of structural properties of Cu2Se/polyvinylcarbazole nanocomposites on the performance of hybrid solar cells

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dc.citation.doi10.1155/2016/9592189en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGovindraju, S.
dc.contributor.authorNtholeng, N.
dc.contributor.authorRanganathan, K.
dc.contributor.authorSikhwivhilu, L.M.
dc.contributor.authorMoloto, N.
dc.contributor.authorMoloto, M.J.
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-22T11:02:35Z
dc.date.available2016-11-22T11:02:35Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractIt has been said that substitution of fullerenes with semiconductor nanocrystals in bulk heterojunction solar cells can potentially increase the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of these devices far beyond the 10% mark. However new semiconductor nanocrystals other than the potentially toxic CdSe and PbS are necessary. Herein we report on the synthesis of Cu2Se nanocrystals and their incorporation into polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) to form polymer nanocomposites for use as active layers in hybrid solar cells. Nearly monodispersed 4 nm Cu2Se nanocrystals were synthesized using the conventional colloidal synthesis. Varying weight % of these nanocrystals was added to PVK to form polymer nanocomposites. The 10% polymer nanocomposite showed retention of the properties of the pure polymer whilst the 50% resulted in a complete breakdown of the polymeric structure as evident from the FTIR, TGA, and SEM. The lack of transport channels in the 50% polymer nanocomposite solar cell resulted in a device with no photoresponse whilst the 10% polymer nanocomposite resulted in a device with an open circuit voltage of 0.50 V, a short circuit current of 7.34 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 22.28% resulting in a PCE of 1.02%.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianSP2016en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGovindraju, S. et al. 2016. The effect of structural properties of Cu2Se/polyvinylcarbazole nanocomposites on the performance of hybrid solar cells. Journal of Nanomaterials, Article number 9592189.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1687-4110 (Print)
dc.identifier.issn1687-4129 (Online)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/21469
dc.journal.titleJournal of Nanomaterialsen_ZA
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherHindawi Publishing Corporationen_ZA
dc.rightsCopyright © 2016 S. Govindraju et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.en_ZA
dc.subjectSolar cellsen_ZA
dc.subjectHeterojunctionsen_ZA
dc.subjectNanocompositesen_ZA
dc.subjectNanocrystalsen_ZA
dc.subjectOpen circuit voltageen_ZA
dc.subjectPolymer solar cellsen_ZA
dc.subjectPolymersen_ZA
dc.subjectSemiconducting selenium compoundsen_ZA
dc.subjectSemiconductor devicesen_ZA
dc.subjectBulk heterojunction solar cellsen_ZA
dc.subjectColloidal synthesisen_ZA
dc.subjectHybrid solar cellsen_ZA
dc.subjectPolymer nanocompositeen_ZA
dc.subjectPolymeric structuresen_ZA
dc.subjectPolyvinylcarbazoleen_ZA
dc.subjectPower conversion efficienciesen_ZA
dc.subjectSemiconductor nanocrystalsen_ZA
dc.titleThe effect of structural properties of Cu2Se/polyvinylcarbazole nanocomposites on the performance of hybrid solar cellsen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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