Air-stable inverted ZnO nanorod arrays/polymer hybrid solar cell

• Well-aligned ZNRAs were grown on ITO substrate by a simple and low-cost chemical route.
• An low-cost inverted HSC was fabricated.
• The fabricated process of the HSC was much simple.
• The HSC displayed an excellent long-term air-stability.

Well-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays (ZNRAs) were first grown on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate by a simple two-step process, a mixture of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):(6,6)-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) was used as the photoactive layer, and an inverted hybrid solar cell (HSC) with a structure of ITO/ZNRAs/P3HT:PCBM/MoO3/Ag was fabricated. The stability of the unencapsulated HSC in the ambient atmosphere was investigated in detail. The results showed that the fresh device (aged for 0 h) under 100 mW/cm2 AM1.5 illumination exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.11%. The dark storability (darkness, room temperature, and 50–60% relative humidity) was shown to exceed 960 h without notable loss in PCE. The HSC with excellent long-term stability was achieved in the ambient atmosphere.

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