Effect of OA-ZnSe nanoparticles incorporation on the performance of PVK organic photovoltaic cells

The impacts of the Oleic Acid capped ZnSe (OA-ZnSe) nanoparticles content variation on the microstructural and electrical properties of the ITO/PVK:OA-ZnSe/Al hybrid cell have been investigated by using a combination between the FTIR and the electrical measurements. Based on the J-V characteristics of studied hybrid cell in dark, the conduction mechanism for voltages lower than 1.5V follows the Richardson–Schottky law. On voltages above 1.5V, the J–V characteristics can be successfully modeled by other theories such as the space-charge limited current (SCLC) or the trap charge limited current (TCLC). Under white light illumination, the J–V characteristics are clearly affected by the incorporation of OA-ZnSe nanoparticles, indicating a significant improvement of the photovoltaic cell parameters, in particular the conversion efficiency which increases 12-fold compared to the cell based on non-doped PVK. The effective photocurrent density Jph of the hybrid cells with different OA-ZnSe contents are also considered.