Inverted polymer solar cells based on thin ZnO films grown by Mist chemical vapor deposition system

Abstract

Extensive investigations have been conducted in order to synthesize high quality Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films for numerous applications. These methods are either expensive to make or result polycrystalline thin films with low optoelectronic properties. Here we demonstrated a simple and inexpensive method to grow high quality ZnO thin films by a mist chemical vapor assisted depositing (Mist-CVD) system for inverted polymer solar cell (IPSC) application. The IPSC performance fabricated by Mist-CVD grown ZnO thin films were compared with two different Zn precursors (Zinc acetylacetonate hydrate and Zinc acetate dehydrate). Variations in IPSC performance on the growth temperature and growth time of the ZnO thin films were prominently demonstrated. The surface morphology of the ZnO films was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and correlated with IPSC performance. The IPSC performance using two different precursors has been compared thoroughly. A 24% increase in solar cell efficiency (contributed from 21% increase in fill factor and 151% increase in shunt resistance) was achieved using Zinc acetate dehydrate compare to Zinc acetylacetonate hydrate precursor. The transmittance of ZnO thin films was evaluated by transmission spectroscopy. High performance IPSC can be fabricated using this simple and inexpensive method by synthesizing high quality thin ZnO films.