CdSe/ZnS Core/Shell for Luminescent Solar Concentrator

Fabrication and investigation of the properties of CdSe/ZnS core/shell for the luminescent solar concentrates (LSC) application is presented. An increase of the efficiency of a silicon solar cell was obtained by applying the LSC. The increase was a result of the optical properties of the semiconductor nanoparticles CdSe/ZnS core/shell that were deposited over the top surface of the silicon solar cell facing the illumination source (Halogen lamp). The gravity force was invested for the film deposition process.The optical properties of these nanoparticles were studied. The absorption spectra for the CdSe/ZnS core-shell were 270-600nm, i.e., located within the spectral response area of the examined solar cell. The energy gap values for CdSe were 2.5 eV and 3.3eV for ZnS. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis was adopted and showed that the particle dimensions are within the nanometer scale.The efficiency value of the bare solar cell was 7.3%, whereas the value was increased to 8.0 % by applying the CdSe/ZnS core/shell LSC, indicating an efficiency gain percentage of 9.59%.