Enhancement effect of biomass-derived carbon quantum dots (CQDs) on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs).

Corn stover, an agricultural waste, was used to prepare nitrogen self-doped carbon quantum dots (CQDs) through a simple hydrothermal method with only water at near room temperature for the first time. The surface, electrochemical, and photovoltaic characteristics of CQDs doped TiO in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were thoroughly and systematically examined. The average diameter of blue-fluorescence CQDs measured by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM) was 4.