Cellulose acetate fibers covered by CdS nanoparticles for hybrid solar cell applications

In this work cellulose acetate (CA) fibers with a diameter of approximately 1 μm were immersed in a cadmium sulfide (CdS) precursor solution. After 3 h the original white color CA fibers became yellow and maintained the same form, suggesting the deposition of CdS on fiber surface. SEM images showed that CA fibers were covered by uniformly sized CdS nanoparticles of approximately 100 nm. XRD and optical absorption spectra indicated that they contained mostly cubic crystalline phase with the optical band gap of 2.43 eV. CdS coated CA fibers, called CdS(CA) fibers, were dispersed in a polar dispersant (dimethyl sulfoxide, DMSO) and then mixed with a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) solution in a non-polar solvent (dichlorobenzene, DCB). The mixture was cast onto a transparent conductive glass substrate (Indium–Tin–Oxide, ITO), and after solvent evaporation a thin layer of CdS(CA)–P3HT composite was formed. It is observed that the volume relation between the polar dispersant and non-polar solvent influences the solubility of the P3HT product in the composite coating and the photovoltaic performance of the corresponding cell as well. The mass ratio between CdS(CA) fibers and P3HT in the composite layer affects the optical absorption of the composite. The best photovoltaic performance was obtained in CdS(CA)–P3HT based cells with a volume relation between DCB and DMSO of 3.5–1, a mass ratio between CdS(CA) and P3HT of 1:1, and a rapid drying process for composite coatings.