<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sharma, Ashish</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dambhare, V. Neha</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Bera, Jayanta</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sahu, Satyajit</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rath, Arup K.</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Crack-free conjugated PbS quantum dot-hole transport layers for solar cells</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ACS Applied Nano Materials</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Efficiency</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ligand</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">polydispersity</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">quantum dot</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">solar cells</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">thin film</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2021</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">APR</style></date></pub-dates></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">4</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">4016-4025</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) benefit from solution-phase processing and band-gap tuning for their application in solar cell development. Today's QD solar cells rely on solid-state ligand exchange (SLE) to replace bulky oleic acid (OA) ligands with small 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) ligands to develop a conducting hole transport layer (HTL). High volume contraction in EDT conjugated QD films, however, leads to crack and porosity in the HTL, which is a major cause of concern for the device reproducibility and large-area solar cell development. We show that partial removal of the OA ligands in the solution phase reduces the volume contraction in solid films, thereby allowing the growth of crack-free QD films in the SLE process. The cleaning of QDs by repeated precipitation and redispersion using a protic methanol (MeOH) solvent helps with partial removal of the OA ligands, but it is detrimental to the electronic properties of QDs. We develop a one-step solution-phase partial ligand-exchange process using ammonium salts, which enable partial replacement of the OA ligands and passivation of the QD surface. Introduction of the facile partial ligand-exchange process eliminates the need for tedious and wasteful multiple cleaning steps with MeOH, while improving the photophysical properties of QDs. The advancement in QD processing helps to build crack-free, smooth, and conjugated QD films for their deployment as HTLs in solar cell development. Partial ligand exchange with NH4SCN leads to a 1.5 times increase in p doping and mobility over multiple MeOH-cleaned PbS QD films. HTLs developed using NH4SCN QDs show an improved photovoltaic performance to attain a 10.5% power conversion efficiency. Improvement in the depletion width and hole collection efficiency leads to a superior photovoltaic performance, as confirmed from experimental studies and one-dimensional solar cell capacitance simulation.&lt;/p&gt;</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">4</style></issue><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Article</style></work-type><custom3><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;Foreign&lt;/p&gt;</style></custom3><custom4><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">5.097</style></custom4></record></records></xml>