Fabrication of oriented ZnO nanopillar self-assemblies and their application for photovoltaic devices.

Organic photovoltaic devices based on a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and a fullerene have been studied by inserting oriented zinc oxide nanopillars which were fabricated by a new method at low temperature (343 K). The dependence of the photovoltaic performance on the zinc oxide morphology was investigated, and it is concluded that the oriented zinc oxide nanopillar array plays an important role in collecting photogenerated electrons and acts as a conducting path to the electrode. Insertion of the oriented zinc oxide nanopillars in the photovoltaic cells produced enhanced performance with a power conversion efficiency of 1.22% under AM1.5 illumination.