Optimization of Si NC/P3HT hybrid solar cells

Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) are shown to be an electron acceptor in hybrid solar cells combining Si NCs with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). The effects of annealing and different metal electrodes on Si NC/P3HT hybrid solar cells are studied in this paper. After annealing at 150°C, Si NC/P3HT solar cells exhibit power conversion efficiencies as high as 1.47%. The hole mobility in the P3HT phase extracted from space-charge-limited current measurements of hole-only devices increases from 2.48 X 10 ^-1 to 1.11 X 10 ^-9 m ² V ^-1 s ^-1 after annealing, resulting in better transport in the solar cells. A quenching of the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current is observed when high work function metals are deposited as the cathode on Si NC/P3HT hybrid devices.