Influence of Photoactive Layer Structure on Device Performance of Poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene)-CuInS₂/ZnO Solar Cells

This paper reported ternary MEH-PPV-CuInS₂/ZnO solar cells, which were fabricated with the mixture of poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV) and CuInS₂ quantum dots (QDs) as photovoltaic layer and ZnO nanorod arrays (ZnO-NAs) as electron acceptor. The effects of photoactive layer structure (e.g., the change of spinning rate, thermal annealing temperature, annealing order and annealing method) on device performance are observed, and devices are measured by steady current–voltage (J–V) curve under the monochromic illumination at 470 nm. Results showed that the spinning rate of photoactive layer at 2000 rpm obtained the optimum thickness, moreover, solvent annealing firstly then the deposition of the positive electrode, finally thermal annealing at 140 °C contributing to the better reorganization for polymer and CuInS₂ QDs to form the more stable phase-segregated state in the photovoltaic layer in the MEH-PPV-CuInS₂/ZnO-NAs solar cells, obtaining the maximum power conversion efficiency of 2.54% under the monochromic illumination at 470 nm.