Abstract
It is presented for the first time nontoxic CuGaS2/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with free‐self‐reabsorption losses and large Stokes shift (>190 nm) synthesized on an industrially gram‐scale as an alternative for Cd‐based energy‐downshift (EDS)‐QD layers. The QDs exhibit a typical EDS that absorbs only UV light (<407 nm) and emits the whole range of visible light (400–800 nm) with a high photoluminescence‐quantum yield of ≈76%. The straightforward application of these EDS‐QDs on the front surface of a monocrystalline p‐type silicon solar cell significantly enhances the short‐circuit current density by ≈1.64 mA cm−2 (+4.20%); thereby, improving the power‐conversion‐efficiency by ≈4.11%. The significant improvement in the external quantum efficiency increases by ≈35.7% and that in the surface reflectance decreases by ≈14.1% in the UV region (300–450 nm) clearly manifest the photovoltaic enhancement. Such promising results together with the simple (one‐pot core/shell synthesis), cost‐effective (reduction in a bill of material–system by ≈2.62%), and scalable (2000 mL three‐neck flask, 11 g of QDs) preparation process might encourage the manufacturers of solar cells and other optoelectronic applications to apply these EDS‐QDs to different broader eco‐friendly applications.
Advanced core/shell nanocrystals with zero‐self‐reabsorption losses and a very high photoluminescence quantum yield of 76% are synthesized and used as an energy‐downshift layer for solar cell applications. The layer is designed to absorb only UV light and then emit the whole range of visible light for higher performance solar cells.