Study on ZnO/P3HT:PCBM nanowire solar cells

Author

AbdulAmohsin, S.M. ; Cui, J.B. ; Mohammed, Muatez Z.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

16-21 June 2013

Firstpage

2685

Lastpage

2689

Abstract

A combination of bulk heterojunction and ZnO nanowires (NWs) for solar cell application has been investigated. The bulk heterojunction materials include poly (3-hexylthiophene):(6, 6)-phenyl C₆₀ butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT: PCBM). The effects of nanowire length, coating processes, and surface modification of ZnO NWs by tetra (4-carboxyphenyle) [TCPP] on the optical properties and solar cell performance are studied. It is found that the short NWs and slow coating speed of P3HT: PCBM on ZnO NW arrays resulted in better performance of solar cells, which is attributed to a longer time self-organization of the polymer chain, effective infiltration into the gaps among ZnO NWs. In addition, the surface modification by porphyrin is found to increase the solar cell efficiency from 2.18 to 3.13% due to the improved optical absorption and charge transfer at the NW/P3HT:PCBM interfaces.

Keywords

charge exchange; nanowires; solar cells; zinc compounds; NW-P3HT:PCBM interfaces; TCPP; ZnO; bulk heterojunction materials; butyric acid methyl ester; charge transfer; coating speed; efficiency 2.18 percent to 3.13 percent; nanowire length; nanowire solar cells; optical absorption; optical properties; polymer chain; porphyrin; surface modification; tetra 4-carboxyphenyle; time self-organization; Absorption; Coatings; Performance evaluation; Photovoltaic cells; Polymers; Zinc oxide; Bulk hetrojunction; Porphyrin; ZnO Nanowire;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2013.6745026

Filename

6745026