Materials and Devices Research of PPV-ZnO Nanowires for Heterojunction Solar Cells

Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices, which use the conjugated polymer poly(2-methoxyl-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) as the electron donor and crystalline ZnO nanowires as the electron acceptor, have been studied in this work. The ZnO nanowires were prepared through a chemical vapor deposition mechanism. The dissolved MEH-PPV polymer was spin-coated onto the nanowires. The scanning electron microscope images showed that the ZnO nanowires were covered with a single layer of the polymer, and these materials were used to design a heterojunction solar cell. This solar cell displayed improved performance compared with the devices that were made from only the MEH-PPV polymer. This observed improvement is correlated with the improved electron transport that is perpendicular to the plane of the film. A solar power conversion efficiency of 1.37% was achieved under an AM1.5 illumination.