Abstract
Acoustic vibrations are shown to enhance the photovoltaic efficiency of a P3HT/ZnO nanorod solar cell by up to 45%, correlated to a three-fold increase in charge carrier lifetime. This is assigned to the generation of piezoelectric dipoles in the ZnO nanorods, indicating that the efficiency of solar cells may be enhanced in the presence of ambient vibrations by the use of piezoelectric materials.
Highlights
Submitted to study demonstrates a novel approach to enhancing the photovoltaic energy conversion applicable to environments where high levels of ambient vibrations are present such as vehicles, roof-mounted machinery and defence applications
We demonstrate that the enhancement originates from a reduction in the charge carrier recombination and propose a mechanism whereby this enhancement can be achieved by the presence of alternating electric fields at the surface of the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods due to a piezoelectric effect
We have previously demonstrated that such nano-millisecond transient absorption spectroscopy can be an effective assay of the yield of Submitted to dissociated charge carriers and their recombination dynamics in P3HT/ZnO blend films.[3]
Summary
Submitted to study demonstrates a novel approach to enhancing the photovoltaic energy conversion applicable to environments where high levels of ambient vibrations are present such as vehicles, roof-mounted machinery and defence applications. We assign the increased photovoltaic device performances with both aspect ratio and acoustic strain that we observe to reduced losses due to charge carrier recombination (non-geminate and potentially geminate), as indicated by the transient absorption data shown in Figure 2b and 3b.
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