Enhancement of the Luminescence of ZnO Nanorod Arrays by SILAR Coating with a CdS Nanocrystalline Shell Layer

Activating ZnO nanorods photoanodes in visible light by CdS surface sensitiser

“…In most of the previous works, CdS was deposited on to ZnO NRs by conventional solution‐based (CBD or Successive Ion Layer Absoption and Reaction (SILAR)) techniques [2, 5, 6] or more complex pulsed laser deposition techniques [7]. In CBD or SILAR techniques, contact between solution and ZnO NRs results in degradation of ZnO NRs.…”

“…To exploit the visible region of the solar spectrum, various narrowband gap semiconductors such as CdS, CdTe, CdSe, PbS, and PbSe are used as sensitising materials with large band gap ZnO [2,[5][6][7] for increasing its efficiency during PEC water splitting. Among them, CdS can be the semiconductor of choice for sensitising ZnO due to well visible light harvesting capability, high abundance and low production cost [2,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The similarity in the crystal structure, congruousness in band alignment and wide spectrum utilisation make CdS compatible to ZnO to construct efficient core/shell type heterostructure composite which results in increased photo-generated charge carriers and their separation [7].…”

“…In the present decade, development of nanostructured materials with core/shell type structure is drawing interest in the field of photovoltaic, photo electrochemical (PEC), optoelectronic, biological and chemical applications [1, 2]. PEC processes are presently being used in the conversion of clean and earth abundant solar energy to storable chemical energy.…”

“…However, a very small percentage of light [mainly ultraviolet (UV)] present in the solar spectrum can be absorbed and utilised by ZnO due to its wide band gap of ∼3.37 eV. To exploit the visible region of the solar spectrum, various narrowband gap semiconductors such as CdS, CdTe, CdSe, PbS, and PbSe are used as sensitising materials with large band gap ZnO [2, 5–7] for increasing its efficiency during PEC water splitting. Among them, CdS can be the semiconductor of choice for sensitising ZnO due to well visible light harvesting capability, high abundance and low production cost [2, 5–16].…”

CdS Nanoparticles: A Facile route to Size-Controlled Synthesis of Quantum Dots on a Polymer Matrix

“…Size control and band gap tailoring makes QD nanoparticles very appropriate for different applications. In recent years CdS quantum dots (QDs) fabricated by SILAR (successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction) method on TiO2 [4] or ZnO [5] photoanodes are widely used in quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). In addition CdS-QDs have been employed in the light emitting diodes [6,7] and field-emission devices [8].…”