We developed novel hybrid ligands to passivate PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs), and two kinds of solar cells based on as-synthesized CQDs were fabricated to verify the passivation effects of the ligands. It was found that the ligands strongly affected the optical and electrical properties of CQDs, and the performances of solar cells were enhanced strongly. The optimized hybrid ligands, oleic amine/octyl-phosphine acid/CdCl2 improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) to much higher of 3.72 % for Schottky diode cell and 5.04 % for p–n junction cell. These results may be beneficial to design passivation strategy for low-cost and high-performance CQDs solar cells.

We report the synthesis of CdTe semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) with multi-armed, rod and tetrapod shapes, developed by a facile solution process using a cadmium carboxylate as the precursor at moderate temperatures of 220-300 C. It was found that the size and morphology of the CdTe NCs were related to synthesis parameters such as the reaction temperature, carboxyl chain length and carboxylic acid. Based on these CdTe NCs, photovoltaic cells (PVC) in simple Schottky diode configuration of ITO/CdTe/Al were fabricated. The performances of the CdTe NCs solar cells were found to strongly rely on the morphology and surface ligand of the CdTe NCs. The best device could show a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.15% under AM 1.5G illumination at 100 mW cm À2 , which is the highest efficiency of a CdTe NC-based Schottky solar cell reported to date. Notably, in comparison to the ITO/CdTe/LiF/Al device, the device configuration of ITO/CdTe/Al showed higher efficiency and better air-stability.

After we developed a saturated iron core type 35 kV/90 MVA superconductive fault current limiter and installed the device in a transmission network at Puji substation of China Southern Power Grid for live-grid operation in 2007, we continued our efforts in advancing this technology. A 220 kV/300 MVA device has been designed, manufactured and factory tested. This device differs from the 35 kV device in its form of electrical insulation even though the two devices have the same working principle and similar core structure. Improvements in the dc magnetization circuit and the cryogenic system were also achieved. This 220 kV/300 MVA superconductive fault current limiter has been installed and has passed all field tests at Shigezhuang substation in Tianjin, China. Trial operation is underway. This paper introduces the major design parameters, key functional specifications and some testing results of the device.

Interface states influence the operation of nanocrystal (NC) solar cell carrier transport, recombination and energetic mechanisms. In a typical CdTe NC solar cell with a normal structure of a ITO/p-CdTe NCs/n-acceptor (or without)/Al configuration, the contact between the ITO and CdTe is a non-ohm contact due to a different work function (for an ITO, the value is ~4.7 eV, while for CdTe NCs, the value is ~5.3 eV), which results in an energetic barrier at the ITO/CdTe interface and decreases the performance of the NC solar cells. This work investigates how interface materials (including Au, MoO(x) and C₆₀) affect the performance of NC solar cells. It is found that devices with interface materials have shown higher V(oc) than those without interface materials. For the case in which we used Au as an interface, we obtained a high open-circuit voltage of 0.65 V, coupled with a high fill factor (62%); this resulted in a higher energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of 5.3%, which showed a 30% increase in the ECE compared with those without the interlayer. The capacitance measurements indicate that the increased V(oc) in the case in which Au was used as the interface is likely due to good ohm contact between the Au's and the CdTe NCs' thin film, which decreases the energetic barrier at the ITO/CdTe interface.

No abstract