Thin Film CdSe Photoanodes for Electrochemical Photovoltaic Cells

Abstract

Electrochemical photovoltaic cells rely on the junction formed between a semiconductor and electrolyte to accomplish photovoltaic conversion. As a result, they offer certain technical features that make them an attractive alternative to all solid‐state solar cells, especially if thin film photoelectrodes are used. This paper describes the fabrication and evaluation of thin film electrodes for use with sulfide/polysulfide electrolyte in these cells. The effects of electrode preparation and electrolyte concentration on efficiency and stability are presented. I‐V curves and action spectra are also discussed. Simple depletion layer theory is applied to monochromatic photocurrent curves and a correlation between efficiency and minority carrier diffusion length is shown. Conversion efficiencies (AM1) as high as 5% are reported.