Carrier transport dynamics in Mn-doped CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells.

In this work quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) were fabricated with CdSe and Mndoped CdSe quantum dots (QDs) using the SILAR method. QDSSCs based on Mn-doped CdSe QDs exhibited improved incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency. Carrier transport dynamics in the QDSSCs were studied using the intensity modulated photocurrent/photovoltage spectroscopy technique, from which transport and recombination time constants could be derived. Compared to CdSe QDSSCs, Mn-CdSe QDSSCs exhibited shorter transport time constant, longer recombination time constant, longer diffusion length, and higher charge collection efficiency. These observations suggested that Mn doping in CdSe QDs could benefit the performance of solar cells based on such nanostructures.