Wafer-scale surface roughening for enhanced light extraction of high power AlGaInP-based light-emitting diodes.

A new approach to surface roughening was established and optimized in this paper for enhancing the light extraction of high power AlGaInP-based LEDs, by combining ultraviolet (UV) assisted imprinting with dry etching techniques. In this approach, hexagonal arrays of cone-shaped etch pits are fabricated on the surface of LEDs, forming gradient effective-refractive-index that can mitigate the emission loss due to total internal reflection and therefore increase the light extraction efficiency. For comparison, wafer-scale FLAT-LEDs without any surface roughening, WET-LEDs with surface roughened by wet etching, and DRY-LEDs with surface roughened by varying the dry etching time of the AlGaInP layer, were fabricated and characterized.

Panchromatic photon-harvesting by hole-conducting materials in inorganic-organic heterojunction sensitized-solar cell through the formation of nanostructured electron channels.

Additional photon-harvesting by hole transporting materials in Sb(2)S(3)-sensitized solar cell is demonstrated through the formation of electron channels in the hole transporter such as P3HT (poly(3-hexylthiophene)) and PCPDTBT(poly(2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b']dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)) that can act as both a hole conductor and light absorber. As a result, the short-circuit current density is improved with an increment in overall efficiency. These findings provide new insights into use of light-absorbing conjugated polymers as a hole conductor in the inorganic-organic heterojunction sensitized solar cells.

Enhancing the device performance of Sb2S3-sensitized heterojunction solar cells by embedding Au nanoparticles in the hole-conducting polymer layer.

Performance of Sb(2)S(3)-sensitized heterojunction solar cells is enhanced by embedding Au nanoparticles in the poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) hole-conducting polymer layer. The improved charge transfer/transport at the Sb(2)S(3)/P3HT/Au interface by extended interface area of the P3HT/Au counter electrode and the re-absorption of the backscattering light from the embedded Au nanoparticles enhanced the device performance: J(sc) 11.0 to 12.

Efficient HgTe colloidal quantum dot-sensitized near-infrared photovoltaic cells.

We have demonstrated the successful fabrication of multiple-layer colloidal quantum dot (CQD)-sensitized near-infrared (NIR) photovoltaic (PV) cells using the solution processable HgTe CQDs and poly-3-(hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as hole-conducting polymer. The cells showed a 3.6 fold enhancement in power conversion efficiency under NIR light illumination by the post-ethanedithiol chemical treatment.

Improvement of external quantum efficiency depressed by visible light-absorbing hole transport material in solid-state semiconductor-sensitized heterojunction solar cells.

A mesoporous (mp)-TiO(2)/Sb(2)S(3)/P3HT [poly(3-hexylthiophene)] heterojunction solar cell displays reduced external quantum efficiency (EQE) at a wavelength of approximately 650 nm. This loss in EQE is due to incomplete charge carrier transport because the transportation of charge carriers generated in P3HT by the absorption of light into Sb(2)S(3) was inefficient, and consequently, the carriers recombined. The depression of the EQE was greatly relieved by introducing the porous structure formed by thermal decomposition of 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) into the P3HT layer.

Toward interaction of sensitizer and functional moieties in hole-transporting materials for efficient semiconductor-sensitized solar cells.

Sb(2)S(3)-sensitized mesoporous-TiO(2) solar cells using several conjugated polymers as hole-transporting materials (HTMs) are fabricated. We found that the cell performance was strongly correlated with the chemical interaction at the interface of Sb(2)S(3) as sensitizer and the HTMs through the thiophene moieties, which led to a higher fill factor (FF), open-circuit voltage (V(oc)), and short-circuit current density (J(sc)). With the application of PCPDTBT (poly(2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b']dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)) as a HTM in a Sb(2)S(3)-sensitized solar cell, overall power conversion efficiencies of 6.

Near-infrared responsive PbS-sensitized photovoltaic photodetectors fabricated by the spin-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method.

A PbS-sensitized photovoltaic photodetector responsive to near-infrared (NIR) light was fabricated by depositing monolayered PbS nanoparticles on a mesoporous TiO(2) (mp-TiO(2)) film via the spin-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. By adjusting the size and morphology of the PbS nanoparticles through repeated spin-assisted SILAR cycles, the PbS-sensitized photovoltaic photodetector achieved an external quantum efficiency of 9.3% at 1140 nm wavelength and could process signals up to 1 kHz.

High-performance nanostructured inorganic-organic heterojunction solar cells.

We report all solid-state nanostructured inorganic-organic heterojunction solar cells fabricated by depositing Sb(2)S(3) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) on the surface of a mesoporous TiO(2) layer, where Sb(2)S(3) acts as an absorbing semiconductor and P3HT acts as both a hole conductor and light absorber. These inorganic-organic light harvesters perform remarkably well with a maximum incident-photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) of 80% and power conversion efficiency of 5.13% under air-mass 1.