CdS sensitized pristine and Cd doped ZnO solar cells: Effect of SILAR cycles on optical properties and efficiency

We report the CdS sensitized pristine and Cd doped ZnO using a successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique towards solar cell application. The effect of number of CdS SILAR cycles on the performance of pristine and Cd doped ZnO solar cells have been studied. A chemical synthesis technique at relatively low temperature (70 °C) was employed for the preparation of nanoparticulate powders of ZnO and Cd: ZnO. Doctor blade technique was used towards the preparation of film. The sensitization of CdS was done over ZnO and Cd: ZnO films with different SILAR cycles (4-16). The UV-Vis clearly shows the significant change in absorbance with the number of SILAR cycles for both the films. The results of J-V measurements with polysulfide as electrolyte and CuS as counter electrode were obtained by using 2420 Keithley source meter. The maximum power conversion efficiency of 0.279% and 0.604% was obtained for 12 cycles CdS sensitized ZnO and Cd: ZnO based solar cells, respectively.