Abstract
ZnO nanorods (Nrods) with ~20â50 nm lengths were synthesized using an aqueous solution of zinc acetate and glacial acetic acid. Bulk heterojunction solar cells were fabricated with the structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/polyethylenedioxythiophene doped with polystyrene-sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS)/ZnO-Nrods + polymer/electron transport layer (ETL)/Al. Current density-voltage characterization of the resulting cells showed that, by adding an ETL and using polymers with a low band gap energy, the photoactive layer surface morphology and the device performance can be dramatically improved.
Highlights
Semiconducting inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) with different shapes such as nanowires, nanospheres, nanosheets, nanotetrapods, and nanorods have attracted significant attention in the field of materials science owing to their promising applications in optoelectronic devices such as inorganic and organic light emitting diodes and photovoltaic devices [1,2,3]
A thin (âŒ70 nm) layer of PEDOT:PSS as hole transport layer (HTL) was spin-coated at 4000 rpm for 30 s onto cleaned indium tin oxide- (ITO-) coated glass substrates and dried at 120âC for 20 min
The surface morphology and roughness of the ZnO/ P3HT photoactive layer having different concentration of ZnO-Nrods at the fixed composite loading amount of 5 mg/mL were studied by AFM
Summary
Semiconducting inorganic nanocrystals (NCs) with different shapes such as nanowires, nanospheres, nanosheets, nanotetrapods, and nanorods have attracted significant attention in the field of materials science owing to their promising applications in optoelectronic devices such as inorganic and organic light emitting diodes and photovoltaic devices [1,2,3]. Hybrid polymer-ZnO NCs have been studied [15, 16], and ZnO NCs have been investigated as the n-type material in cells as they are cheap and eco-friendly and can be synthesized with high purity and crystallinity at low temperatures. Results show that the device efficiency in these previous papers was lower (efficiency ⌠1.6%) than that of other hybrid BHJ solar cells because of unoptimized photoactive surface morphology, light absorption, and charge transport (collect) efficiency. The hole transport layer (HTL) and electron transport layer (ETL) should be added and optimized Conducting polymers such as poly(2-methoxy-5-(3óž ,7óž dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MDMO PPV) and poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl)(P3HT) have been employed in devices [17]. High-quality and pure ZnO nanorods (Nrods) were synthesized and characterized for hybrid BHJ solar cell applications. The device parameters including length of ZnO nanorods, absorption, and active layer surface morphology were investigated and characterized. The improved BHJ device presents the possibility of fabricating low-cost, nontoxic, and eco-friendly inorganic/organic hybrid BHJ solar cells
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