Top-down Strategy toward Versatile Graphene Quantum Dots for Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells

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Metal oxide nanocrystals have been pursued for various applications in photovoltaics as a buffer layer. However, it remains a challenging task to adjust their energy levels to achieve a better match of the donor–acceptor system. Herein, we report the fabrication of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) with bright blue photoluminescence by a top-down strategy based on laser fragmentation with posthydrothermal treatment. The GQDs demonstrate appropriate energy level positions and are used as an intermediate buffer layer between TiO 2 and P3HT to form a cascade energy level architecture. The introduction of the GQDs into a bulk heterojunction hybrid solar cell has led to an enhancement of the power conversion efficiency.