Regulating Thiol Ligands of p-Type Colloidal Quantum Dots for Efficient Infrared Solar Cells

The p-type semiconducting colloidal quantum dot (CQD), working as a hole conductor in CQD solar cells (CQDSCs), is critical for charge carrier extraction and therefore, to large extent, determines the device’s photovoltaic performance. However, during the preparation of a p-type CQD solid film on the top of an n-type CQD solid film, forming a p-n heterojunction within the CQDSCs, the optoelectronic properties of the underlayered n-type CQD solid film are significantly affected by conventional 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) ligands due to its high reactivity. Herein, a series of thiol ligands are comprehensively studied for p-type CQDs, which suggests that, by finely controlling the interaction between the CQDs and thiol ligands during the preparation of p-type CQD solid films, the n-type CQD solid films can be well protected and avoid destruction induced by thiol ligands. The p-type CQD solid film with 4-aminobenzenethiol (ABT) passivating the CQD surface exhibits better optoelectronic properties than the conventional p-type EDT-based CQD solid films, resulting in an improved photovoltaic performance in CQDSCs.