Facile synthesis and characterization of carbon quantum dots and photovoltaic applications

Abstract In this paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of carbon quantum dots that were easily obtained from citric acid and ethanediamine. The synthesized carbon quantum dots (QDs) had various wavelengths and improved electron extraction. We fabricated photovoltaic cells based on these QDs-integrated in polymer nanocomposite used as an interlayer (electron extraction layer) consisting of carbon QDs dispersed by spin coating on an ethoxylated polyethylenimine. In addition, we investigated the photovoltaic performance of the photovoltaic cells.