Effects of inorganic nanoparticle incorporation on the performance of planar hybrid organic solar cells: analysis of electrical and morphological properties

In this study, we fabricated planar hybrid organic solar cells (PHOSCs) with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/(PCBM:PTB7)/E-GaIn nanostructure using vacuum-free deposition. The active layer consisted of PCBM and PTB7 as n-type and p-type materials, respectively. PEDOT:PSS was used as hole-transporting material, whereas ITO and E-GaIn served as anode and cathode, respectively. The incorporation of an inorganic material as third component improved the performance of the device, leading to high conductivity and sunlight absorption, as well as good solution processability. Spherical nanoparticles (SNPs) consisting of inorganic cadmium selenide (CdSe) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were synthesized and characterized. The optical and morphological properties of the CdSe and ZnO nanoparticles were determined using TEM, HR-TEM, UV-vis, AFM, VCA, and SEM techniques. The optimized device showed the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.2%, with a short-circuit density (Jsc) of 15.2 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 770 mV, and a fill factor (FF) of 70%.