Inverted polymer solar cells including ZnO electron transport layer fabricated by facile spray pyrolysis

Efficient inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated with ZnO electron transport layers (ETLs) prepared by spray pyrolysis, which is a simple and cost efficient method producing a thin oxide layer by direct spray of precursor on hot substrate. To investigate the effect of substrate temperature on the structural and optical properties as well as performance of PSCs, ZnO ETLs were fabricated by spray pyrolysis on hot substrate controlled at 150, 250, and 350 °C, respectively. The PSC with ZnO prepared by spray pyrolysis at 150 °C exhibited poor power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.94% due to the mis-matched energy level and microscopic roughness of ZnO ETL. On the other hand, enhanced efficiency of 2.99% and 3.22% was obtained by using ZnO prepared by spray pyrolysis at 250 and 350 °C, respectively. Enhancement of efficiency at higher temperature is attributed to better matching of ZnO coated ITO work-function with the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level of PCBM and the formation of smooth and homogeneous polycrystalline ZnO, resulting in improved interfacial property and electron transport. In the durability test, inverted ZnO solar cell was retained above 80% during 9 days in an ambient atmosphere without any encapsulation, while conventional solar cells showed dramatic decrease of efficiency.