Synergistic Effect of Dual Interfacial Modifications with Room-Temperature-Grown Epitaxial ZnO and Adsorbed Indoline Dye for ZnO Nanorod Array/P3HT Hybrid Solar Cell

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 5; no. 17; pp. 8359 - 8365
• Main Authors: Chen, Dian-Wei, Wang, Ting-Chung, Liao, Wen-Pin, Wu, Jih-Jen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 11.09.2013
• Subjects: Coloring Agents - chemistry; Indoles - chemistry; Nanotubes - chemistry; Solar Energy; Temperature; Thiophenes - chemistry; Zinc Oxide - chemistry; hybrid materials; solar cells; nanorods; epitaxy; zinc oxide
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/am402265v

ZnO nanorod (NR)/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) hybrid solar cells with interfacial modifications are investigated in this work. The ZnO NR arrays are modified with room-temperature (RT)-grown epitaxial ZnO shells or/and D149 dye molecules prior to the P3HT infiltration. A synergistic effect of the dual modifications on the efficiency of the ZnO NR/P3HT solar cell is observed. The open-circuit voltage and fill factor are considerable improved through the RT-grown ZnO and D149 modifications in sequence on the ZnO NR array, which brings about a 2-fold enhancement of the efficiency of the ZnO NR/P3HT solar cell. We suggested that the more suitable surface of RT-grown ZnO for D149 adsorption, the chemical compatibility of D149 and P3HT, and the elevated conduction band edge of the RT-grown ZnO/D149-modified ZnO NR array construct the superior interfacial morphology and energetics in the RT-grown ZnO/D149-modified ZnO NR/P3HT hybrid solar cell, resulting in the synergistic effect on the cell efficiency. An efficiency of 1.16% is obtained in the RT-grown ZnO/D149-modified ZnO NR/P3HT solar cell.