Fabrication and characterization of TiO2 nanotubes sensitized with PbS quantum dots–CH3NH3PbI3 heterostructures as photoanodes with liquid electrolyte

Abstract PbS quantum dots (QDs)–CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 (MAPI) heterostructures were fabricated to combine the complementary optical absorption. The heterostructures were deposited onto TiO 2 nanotubes (TNTAs) and used as a photoanode of solar cells. The visible absorption of TNTAs was enhanced because of the introduction of PbS QDs, MAPI, and PbS-MAPI heterostructures. With the use of a liquid electrolyte, the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of PbS-MAPI/TNTAs reached 5.98%, which was approximately 4.12 and 2.96 times of that of PbS/TNTAs and MAPI/TNTAs, respectively. This study provided a strategy to fabricate low-cost, high-efficiency Solar Cells with the use of PbS-MAPI heterostructures.