Materials and Devices Research of PPV‐ZnO Nanowires for Heterojunction Solar Cells

Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices, which use the conjugated polymer poly(2‐methoxyl‐5‐(2′‐ethylhexyloxy)‐1,4‐phenylenevinylene) (MEH‐PPV) as the electron donor and crystalline ZnO nanowires as the electron acceptor, have been studied in this work. The ZnO nanowires were prepared through a chemical vapor deposition mechanism. The dissolved MEH‐PPV polymer was spin‐coated onto the nanowires. The scanning electron microscope images showed that the ZnO nanowires were covered with a single layer of the polymer, and these materials were used to design a heterojunction solar cell. This solar cell displayed improved performance compared with the devices that were made from only the MEH‐PPV polymer. This observed improvement is correlated with the improved electron transport that is perpendicular to the plane of the film. A solar power conversion efficiency of 1.37% was achieved under an AM1.5 illumination.