AgInSe2•PCBM•P3HT inorganic organic blends for hybrid bulk heterojunction photovoltaics

P3HT(center dot)PCBM(center dot)AIS (P3HT-poly[3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl], PCBM-(phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester), AIS-AgInSe2 nanopowder) inorganic-organic blends were studied for solar cell applications. AIS nanopowder was obtained by high speed milling of as synthesized bulk microcrystals. Ar medium ball milled AIS nanopowder was dispersed in P3HT and PCBM using chlorobenzene as a solvent. Different concentrations of these particles were suspended in the polymer solutions and spin casted onto glass and ITO substrates. Broad AIS texture in blend layers suggest the presence of ball milled nanoparticles. Morphological studies and imaging have been performed by atomic force microscopy. The blend layers were also investigated by various techniques like XRD, UV-vis optical spectroscopy, AFM, PL after a series of various optimizations with polymers/concentration/deposition/suspension/surfactants etc. PL quenching results suggest merit of using AIS nanopowder in polymer blended solar cell for charge separation and transfer. Inorganic organic blended bulk hetrojuction hybrid photovoltaic device based on AIS nanopowder Ag/MoO3/P3HT(center dot)PCBM(center dot)AIS/ZnO/ITO was fabricated and tested with standard solar simulator and device characterization system. The active layers obtained by various optimizations were studies for photo physics and best was used for device fabrication. The best performance and photovoltaic parameters, we obtained with a spun speed of 600 rpm was an open-circuit voltage of about V-oc 0.50 and a photocurrent density J(sc) of 3.71 (mA/cm(2)) and an efficiency of 0.758% using a white light illumination intensity of 100 mW/cm(2). For the first time, AIS nanopowder blended with P3HT and PCBM as bulk hetrojunction device for energy applications is being reported here. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.