Polymer/Metal Oxide Nanocrystals Hybrid Solar Cells

In this paper, we present two different types of polymer/metal oxide nanocrystals hybrid photovoltaics. One is the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/TiO₂ nanorods hybrid bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell and the other is a nanostructured ZnO/P3HT hybrid solar cell. In a BHJ hybrid solar cell, the dispersed semiconducting nanocrystals lead to an increased interface area between polymer and nanocrystals, which can assist charge separation for photogenerated carriers, but at the expense of poorly formed conducting pathways for electron transport. In contrast, a nanostructured hybrid solar cell usually consists of rigidly connected nanocrystals, which can provide direct pathways for electron transport, but the interface area between polymer and nanocrystals is limited. We have demonstrated that through interface modification with effective molecules, the photovoltaic performance in both device structures can be largely improved by enhancing charge separation and suppressing interface recombination rate in the polymer/inorganic hybrids.