Molybdenum disulphide/titanium dioxide nanocomposite-poly 3-hexylthiophene bulk heterojunction solar cell

Demonstration of hybrid bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar photovoltaic cell employing molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)/titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposite (similar to 15 mu m thick) and poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) active layers is presented in this letter. The dominant Raman peak at 146 cm(-1) confirmed TiO2, while two other peaks observed at 383 cm(-1) and 407 cm(-1) asserted MoS2 in the nanocomposite film. The demonstrated BHJ solar cell, having a stacked structure of indium tin oxide/TiO2/MoS2/P3HT/gold, exhibits a short circuit current density of 4.7 mA/cm(2), open circuit voltage of 560 mV, and photoconversion efficiency of 1.3% under standard AM1.5 illumination condition. We observe that the quality of TiO2/MoS2/P3HT interfaces, as reflected in the dark saturation current in low-and medium-forward-bias region, plays a key role in impacting solar cell performance due to interfacial recombination effect. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3703602]