Enhancing the performance of nanostructured zinc oxide/polymer-based hybrid solar cells using ammonia as a structural and interfacial modifier

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of ammonia solution treatment on the ZnO nanostructure and its influence on the photovoltaic device performance of conjugated polymer/nanostructured ZnO-based hybrid solar cells (HSC). The ammonia solution was used as the etching agent on the ZnO nanostructure as well as the interface modifier between ZnO/polymer interfaces which led to a better open circuit voltage (VOC). The etching of ZnO nanostructure provides better polymer infiltration inside the nanostructure arrays with higher effective donor–acceptor interface area. We have also investigated the absorption and photoluminescence behaviour of the NH3-treated device in comparison with an untreated device. The study showed that the NH3 etching with optimized time over ZnO nanostructure enhances the absorption, charge carrier separation, recombination suppression which leads to the improvement in the overall performance of the photovoltaic device.