A11
Paper #6064
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University
of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is based on
publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for any
purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at
the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
QUANTUM DOT SOLAR CELLS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO CURRENT
SOLAR TECHNOLOGY
Alexander Houriet, ach75@pitt.edu, Sanchez 10:00, Bryan Welsh, bpw13@pitt.edu, Mahboobin 10:00
Revised Proposal — As the world continues to develop
and grow at record rates, the need for a universal cheap, green
energy source becomes ever more apparent. The use of
quantum dot solar cells, QDSC’s, as an alternative to current
dye-sensitive solar panels, could be the answer to this problem.
Quantum dot solar cells are relatively new technology in the
world of solar energy, and have only begun to see real
attention and growth in the last six or seven years [1]. The
main technology driving QDSC’s is the use of chemistry to
coat a colloidal quantum dot with thin layers of light sensitive
chemicals. The resulting product is a small, lightweight, and
cheap solar cell [2]. The use of quantum dots allows the solar
cells to be tunable to a wider range of light frequencies than
other solar cells, increasing its potential efficiency to levels
previously thought of as impossible [3].
In our paper, we will discuss and weigh the various
advantages and disadvantages of QDSC’s, and provide our
reasoning for supporting the technology as important. While
they have promising theoretical efficiencies in the range of 4560%, outputs have never been achieved above 10% [4].
Therefore, a major component of our research will be devoted
to determining the processes for increasing efficiency, and
estimating how long the theoretical efficiency will likely take
to be reached. We also plan to heavily research information
about the cost effectivity of QDSC’s, since they would need to
be an economically feasible option if they are to become the
main generator of power for any large area. From our initial
research it seems they are cost effective, but more information
needs to be gathered for the sake of thoroughness [3]. We will
be conducting research through the use of database journals
and articles, all of which must be peer-reviewed and accepted
as scholarly work.
This topic is important not only to us, but to all members of
our audience. It is important to current engineers and faculty
as they have the power to continue research on perfecting and
increasing the efficiency of QDSC’s. It is important to other
engineering students to become educated about the future of
energy in their lives, and it is important to other interested
professionals due to the potential for QDSC’s to revolutionize
the solar industry and greater energy industry. If the United
States was able to capitalize on the opportunity of this
technology, they could theoretically achieve energy
independence. Given sufficient development time and
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
January 29, 2016
resources, quantum dot solar cells can become the answer to
powering communities across the United States and across the
globe in an environmentally friendly manner.
REFERENCES
[1] “The History of Solar.” U.S. Department of Energy. (online
factsheet).
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf
[2] C. Chuang, P. Brown, V. Bulovic, M. Bawendi. (06
December 2013). “Improved performance and stability in
quantum dot solar cells through band alignment engineering.”
Nature
Materials.
(online
article).
http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v13/n8/full/nmat3984.ht
ml
[3] H. Kim, J. Kim, C. Kumar, D. Punnoose, S. Kim, C. Gopi,
S. Rao. (18 December 2014). “Facile chemical bath deposition
of CuS nano peas like structure as a high efficient counter
electrode for quantum-dot sensitized solar cells.” Journal of
Electroanalytical
Chemistry.
(online
article).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S157266571
4005542
[4] F. Xu, X. Yang, S. Luo, Z. Lv, T. Yang. (3 October 2014).
“Enhanced performance of quantum dot solar cells based on
type II quantum dots.” Journal of Applied Physics. (online
article). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4895476
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. Chen, Y. Yin, T. Ho, Y. Chen. (June 2014). “Sensitized
Solar Cells via Nanomaterials: A Recent Development in
Quantum Dots-Based Solar Cells.” IEEE Nanotechnology
Magazine.
(online
database
article).
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=68
09959
This is a peer-reviewed article that was published by IEEE.
While this article talks about QDSC’s, the underlying focus is
about the big picture of the energy economy in the world, and
the importance of developing a strong renewable solar option
for the benefit of humanity in the near and far future. This
article will be useful for us because it gives valuable data about
Alexander Houriet
Bryan Welsh
the world’s energy needs and puts a strong valuation on solar
energy.
use this source to discuss a potential direction for the future of
QDSC production and innovation.
C. Chuang, P. Brown, V. Bulovic, M. Bawendi. (06 December
2013). “Improved performance and stability in quantum dot
solar cells through band alignment engineering.” Nature
Materials.
(online
article).
http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v13/n8/full/nmat3984.ht
ml
This article comes from an accredited journal and describes
a new process for manufacturing quantum dot solar cells.
Using their method of adjusting band alignments within the
cell has yielded efficiencies of up to 9%. While it is still
nowhere close to theoretical limits, it is still an improvement
over solar panels used currently. The team from MIT has found
several different ways of making these adjustments. This is
important because recognizing that there are many ways to
produce these cells is crucial to finding the best possible
technology.
“Solar Energy Development Environmental Considerations.”
Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS. (online
article). http://solareis.anl.gov/guide/environment/
This article comes from the Argonne National Laboratory,
a government agency and it outlines the environmental impact
of solar energy. Some of these things include taking up land
for solar farms. There is also some impact to the soil, due to
the covered land. However, solar certainly does cut a ton of
emissions from fossil fuels and its positives greatly outweigh
the negatives in solar energy. Knowing the impact solar energy
has from all angles, both good and bad is important because it
allows us to make an informed decision for the future.
H.L. Weng, H.Y. Ueng, C.P. Lee. (February 2015).
“Efficiency of quantum dot solar cell enhanced by
improving quantum dots performance.” Physica Status Solidi
(A) Applications and Materials Science. (online database
article).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pssa.201431261/f
ull
This article is also scholarly, peer-reviewed, and has been
published. The authors of this article focus specifically on
enhancing the performance of the quantum dot portion of
QDSC’s in order to improve overall efficiency. They plan to
do this by altering the Quantum Dot to absorb a wider spectrum
of light. We will use this article in the section for discussing
another potential innovation options for the future of QDSC’s.
A. El-Maaty Aly, A. Nasr. (2014). “Theoretical Study of OneIntermediate Band Quantum Dot Solar Cell.” International
Journal of Photoenergy. (online database article).
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2014/904104/
This source is a scholarly, peer-reviewed article from an
international journal. The main focus of the article is to talk
about the maximum potential efficiency of QDSC’s and how
that makes them a superior alternative to current photovoltaic
technologies. We plan to use this source to talk about the endgoal for Quantum Dot Solar technology, and why we think it
would be a strong investment in the long run.
“The History of Solar.” U.S. Department of Energy. (online
factsheet).
https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf
This graphic was published by the United States
Department of Energy. It gives a very broad timeline on the
history of solar energy, dating all the way back to 700 B.C. to
show how far the technology has come from its origin. It also
offers a lot of information on important legislations and
researchers in the field, crucial for background information.
F. Xu, X. Yang, S. Luo, Z. Lv, T. Yang. (3 October 2014).
“Enhanced performance of quantum dot solar cells based on
type II quantum dots.” Journal of Applied Physics. (online
article). http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4895476
The Journal of Applied Physics is a well-known and
respected journal. This article discusses the implementation of
type II quantum dot solar cells, which also have the modified
bands, but are made of other materials. Knowing the
theoretical possibilities of these is an important promotion
tool, even if those levels cannot be attained. They produce
similar voltage levels, but have a theoretical efficiency of
63.2% once the perfect starting materials are found.
H. Kim, J. Kim, C. Kumar, D. Punnoose, S. Kim, C. Gopi, S.
Rao. (18 December 2014). “Facile chemical bath deposition of
CuS nano peas like structure as a high efficient counter
electrode for quantum-dot sensitized solar cells.” Journal of
Electroanalytical
Chemistry.
(online
article).
http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v13/n8/full/nmat3984.ht
ml
This peer-reviewed scholarly article focuses on the specific
process of ion deposition for the improvement of efficiency in
quantum dot solar cells. They specifically describe the process
required for creating cells in this way, and its benefits to
overall efficiency. They also talk about current drawbacks of
the process, such as reduced performance over time. We will
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January 29, 2016
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