Improved performance of polymer/TiO₂ nanorod bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices by interface modification

In this article, the polymer photovoltaic devices based on the poly(3-hexylthiophene)/TiO₂ nanorods hybrid material is present. An enhancement in the device performance can be achieved by removing or replacing the insulating surfactant on the TiO₂ nanorod surface with a more conductive ligand, which can play the role to assist charge separation efficiency or also to prevent from back recombination, giving a large improvement in the short circuit current and fill factor. The relatively high power conversion efficiency of 1.7% under simulated AM 1.5 illumination (100 mW/cm²) can be achieved, providing a route for fabricating low-cost, environmentally friendly polymer photovoltaic devices by all-solution processes.