Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cell Devices Prepared with Composites of Conjugated Polymer and Zinc Oxide Nanorods

Abstract

ZnO nanorods (Nrods) with ~20–50 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.

Novel POT/CdSe blend for optoelectronic applications

“…The first hybrid solar cell device using CdSe nanoparticles was reported by Greenham et al [6]. Since then, inorganic semiconducting nanostructures, such as CdSe nanostructures, with different structures, sizes, shapes, and morphological characteristics have been investigated and applied for hybrid bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells [7]. Through the production of CdSe nanoparticles, electrical insulated organic structures such as TOPO or dyes have been used as stabilizers to hold the particles separated from each other and not composed into greater accumulations [8].…”

ZnO-CuO Based Inorganic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Influence of Thickness of the Spin-Coated Bulk-Heterojunction Film

“…Despite the significant effort being focused on cell efficiency improvement, the device stability/degradation issues have not yet been completely resolved [20]. So far, there are various methods have been used for the preparation of ZnO and CuO thin films such as sputtering [21][22][23], Solvothermal [24], Spray pyrolysis [25], Electron beam evaporation [26], chemical vapor deposition, and hydrothermal [27], Electrodeposition [28,29], pulsed laser deposition [30], Sol-gel and Doctor-blading [31], thermal evaporation [32], and spin coating [33], etc. Among them, the spin coating provides good quality and uniform deposition suitable for various applications in research and industries [34,35].…”

Fabrication and optimization of vacuum free hybrid solar cells prepared using composites of zinc oxide nanoparticles and narrow band gap polymer composite

“…In our previous paper, ZnO (Nrods) were used as an electron acceptor material and combined with a narrow band gap polymer to produce a composite solution for BHJ solar cell applications. 11) We prepared high-performance inorganic BHJ solar cells with an electron transport layer (ZnO layer) using a high-light-absorbing polymers with narrow band gap energy, that is, poly [2,6- [3,4b]thiophenediyl}) (PTB7), and obtained maximum efficiencies of up to ∼3% for the structure based on ZnO Nrods and PTB7, by using ZnO nanoparticles, an electron transport layer, and a cathode composed of aluminum, which was deposited using a vacuum process and a thermal evaporator.…”