Formation Of PbSe – ZnO Thin Film Based Heterostructure For Solar Cell Applications

A new type of excitonic solar cell based on heterojunctions between PbSe semiconducting thin film and thin ZnO film has been fabricated. These solar cells can generate large photocurrents and higher photovoltages compared to Schottky cells assembled with similar nanocrystal films. The n-type and p-type nanomaterials such as ZnO and PbSe were synthesized by sol-gel method. The synthesized nanoparticles were coated over the ITO substrate by thermal evaporation method. The heterojunction thin films were annealed at 400 °C to form a p-n junction. Device performance was analyzed using semiconductor parameter analyzer (SPA) under the bright and dark field illumination. The conductivity was estimated from the sheet resistance value by using Four Probe Method. The material coated over the substrate and its crystallinity was identified by using thin film XRD and the nature of material coated was analyzed by Hall Effect measurement system. The thickness of the film coated over the substrate was determined by cross-section of FESEM analysis. The solar cell performance was carried out by differentiating the I-V characteristics under bright and dark field light illumination.