Improvement in photovoltaic performance for hybrid P3HT/elongated CdS nanocrystals solar cells with F-doped SnO₂ arrays

Hybrid CdS/P3HT photovoltaic devices using F-doped SnO₂ (FTO)-coated ZnO nanorod arrays as electrodes were studied in this work. The crystalline FTO, made using low-cost spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD), displayed a nominally complete and uniform coating over the entire outer surface of the ZnO nanorods. The photovoltaic performance of the CdS/P3HT photovoltaic devices increased with the FTO-coated ZnO nanorod length and thickness of the FTO layer, due to improvement in collecting photogenerated electrons, which results in the increased short circuit current density (J_SC) and fill factor (FF) of the devices. The incorporation of CdS into the P3HT greatly enhanced the J_SC of the devices with a nanorod FTO electrode. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device with a ZnO nanorod length of 320 nm was increased from 0.37% for P3HT without CdS to 1.8% with CdS of AR = 1 (spherical shape). With a further increase of the AR of the CdS nanocrystal to 4, the PCE was further increased up to 2.6%. However, longer CdS nanocrystals conversely caused deterioration in PCE as a result of the nanorod array morphology. These results indicate that, although increased nanorod length could improve the photocurrent and efficiency, other factors, such as P3HT infiltration, nanorod array morphology and CdS nanocrystal length are required for obtaining the optimal performance of these devices.