Fabrication of transparent and luminescent CdTe/TiO2 hybrid film with enhanced photovoltaic property

A novel strategy for fabricating surface modified quantum dots (QDs)/titania hybrid films with increased synergistic property is reported. Through electrostatic interaction, anionic CdTe QDs are enwrapped with a cationic surfactant bearing hydroxyl groups at hydrophobic terminal, forming a surfactant-encapsulated QD complex particle with hydroxyl active sites on its periphery. The complex is covalently doped into titania matrix by means of a sol-gel approach of tetraethyl orthotitanate. In comparison to the well designed materials with inorganic core and shell nanostructure, the present study utilizes the inorganic core but organic shell, which can further alloy to titiania supports evenly. The original luminescent property of QDs and the flexibility of titania sol-gel materials are well retained in the resulting hybrid films. The monodispersion of QDs in the matrices brings about high transparent titania films, leading to an enhanced photovoltaic effect and a visible region response for light excitation.