A critical review on the recent progress in the area of PbS CQDs based solar cell technology.

The realization of high-quality quantum dots across the world has resulted in the enhanced performance of solar cells. Lead Sulphide Colloidal Quantum Dots (PbS CQDs) significantly contributed to this enhancement due to their high-performance characteristics which can be easily tuned based on their size. Accordingly, PbS CQDs draw the special interest of researchers in a variety of modern optoelectronics and spectroscopic-based applications such as photoluminescence, photodiodes, and solar cells. In addition, the manufacturing of CQDs on glass or metal substrate make it a considerable choice in building materials. This article presents a multidimensional review of the very recent development of PbS CQDs, which were either proposed as results of simulation methodology or have been actually fabricated in laboratories in a variety of ways to achieve high power conversion efficiency (PCE). An incremental improvement of PCE from 3.72% to 15.28% has been recorded since the year 2010 through simulated results while an increase from 3.30% to 12.10% has been reported in the case of experimental results reported by various research groups. Systematic analysis has also been carried out on other PV parameters like fill factor (FF), open circuit voltage (Voc) and short circuit current density (Jsc). The findings are critical for a fundamental understanding of optical transitions in PbS CQDs, as well as for the development of next generation material for practical applications that is low cost, energy efficient, sustainable and can be easily incorporated as essential construction material for domestic, commercial and industrial use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]