Effect of zinc and indium doping in chalcogenide (CdS/Te) nanocomposites towards dye-sensitized solar cell applications

Transitional metal chalcogenides have recently received a lot of attention due to their tuneable band gaps and optoelectronic properties, which make them suitable candidates for energy conversion applications. In this work, we prepared undoped, zinc (Zn2+), and indium (In3+) doped cadmium sulphide/telluride (CST) nanocomposites (NCs) from chalcogenide materials by hydrothermal method for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of undoped and doped CST NCs are studied. The XRD results confirmed the polycrystalline nature of CST NCs with hexagonal phase. Further SEM and HRTEM measurements were used to investigate the morphology of the samples. The optical bandgap of the nanocomposites varied (1.99 eV–2.30 eV), with respect to type and concentration of doping elements. Current-voltage (I–V) characteristics showed higher power conversion efficiency for Zn (3%) and In (1%) doped CST NCs. This shows that doping play a crucial role in enhancing the DSSC performance and the observed results were discussed.