Performance improvement of pentacene-doped P3HT:PCBM inverted polymer solar cells with AZO nanorod array passivated using photoelectrochemical technique

The pentacene-doped P3HT:PCBM inverted polymer solar cells (IPSCs) with Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanorod array were fabricated. The AZO nanorod array could enhance the carrier collection and carrier extraction capability. The AZO nanorod array formed by the laser interference photolithography method and the wet etching process sequentially was used as the carrier collection and carrier transportation layers. The defects on the sidewall surface of the AZO nanorods were passivated by using the photoelectrochemical (PEC) method. It was demonstrated that the better performance of the IPSCs was obtained by PEC treatment. Compared with the IPSCs without PEC treatment, the short current density and power conversion efficiency of the IPSCs with PEC treatment for 60 s increased from 14.56 mA/cm(2) to 15.85 mA/cm(2) and 5.45% to 6.13%, respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.