Oligo- and polythiophene/ZnO hybrid nanowire solar cells.

Briseno, Alejandro L; Holcombe, Thomas W; Boukai, Akram I; Garnett, Erik C; Shelton, Steve W; Fréchet, Jean J M; Yang, Peidong · Nano Lett · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We demonstrate the basic operation of an organic/inorganic hybrid single nanowire solar cell. End-functionalized oligo- and polythiophenes were grafted onto ZnO nanowires to produce p-n heterojunction nanowires. The hybrid nanostructures were characterized via absorption and electron microscopy to determine the optoelectronic properties and to probe the morphology at the organic/inorganic interface. Individual nanowire solar cell devices exhibited well-resolved characteristics with efficiencies as high as 0.036%, J(sc) = 0.32 mA/cm(2), V(oc) = 0.4 V, and a FF = 0.28 under AM 1.5 illumination with 100 mW/cm(2) light intensity. These individual test structures will enable detailed analysis to be carried out in areas that have been difficult to study in bulk heterojunction devices.