Organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells based on 1D ZnO/P3HT active layers and 0D Au as cathode

Abstract

In this paper two different methodologies for the assembling of organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells in 1D are presented: conventional and inverted. The conventional solar cell has the configuration of ITO/P3HT/ZnO/Au, while the inverted of ITO/ZnO/P3HT/Au. The active layers are composed of ZnO nanorods and P3HT nanorods. P3HT was synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization and the nanorods were obtained by template assisted method. ZnO nanorods were synthesized by electrochemical method on ITO glass. The influence of the arrangement of the semiconductors was studied. The cathode of both solar cells was formed of gold nanoparticles (0D), synthesized by microwave method. The active layers were analyzed by UV–vis spectrophotometry, FTIR and SEM. Results of J-V curves indicate that the conventional solar cell has the highest current density due to the higher contact between the layers.