Photovoltaic performance enhancement in P3HT/ZnO hybrid bulk-heterojunction solar cells induced by semiconducting liquid crystal ligands

Liquid crystalline ligands, 4-(5-(1,2-dithiolan-3-yl)pentanoate)-4′-(hexyloxy)-terphenyl (HTph-S), were employed as the semiconducting interface modification material for the fabrication of ZnO nanoparticles/P3HT hybrid solar cells by which a best power conversion efficiency of 1.23% was achieved under an AM 1.5 G (100 mW cm−2) condition after thermal treatment at LC state temperature (120 °C). The enhanced performance of hybrid solar cells may mainly be accounted for the improved compatibility, enhanced charge separation and transfer efficiency and optimized micro-morphology of the ZnO/P3HT hybrid films induced by the self-organizing behavior of HTph-S molecular in its LC state.

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► HTph-S was employed as interface modification material for ZnO/P3HT hybrid solar cells.
► A best power conversion efficiency of 1.23% was achieved after thermal treatment at LC state.
► The more interconnected network of ZnO NPs and P3HT was obtained.