Enhanced Photovoltaic Conversion Of Zno/Pani/Niox Heterostructure Devices With Zno Nanorod Array

An n-i-p type of organic-inorganic hybrid bifacial solar cells was constructed with a ZnO/polyaniline/NiO (x) heterostructure, in which vertically aligned ZnO nanorods (ZnONd) were synthesized by a facile electrochemical deposition process and act as an electron-transport layer. Semitransparent p-type semiconducting NiO (x) films were utilized as a hole-transport layer. Devices based on the ZnONd considerably outperform those employing ZnO thin films. The contact and electrical properties of NiO (x) can be carefully tuned through controlling the deposition parameters as well as surface treatments. Intimate contact between NiO (x) with PANI, created by in situ electrochemical polymerization, greatly improves the charge movement. Furthermore, an O-2-plasma treatment of the NiO (x) film has a significant impact on the performance of polyaniline/ZnONd hybrid photovoltaic devices, reflected by the enhancement in the fill-factor and efficiency. The power conversion efficiency of the ZnONd/PANI/NiO (x) device under the optimized O-2 plasma condition can reach up to 2.79% under AM1.5 illumination.