Selenium as a photoabsorber for inorganic-organic hybrid solar cells.

As an inorganic photoabsorber, selenium was used in a mesoscopic solar cell with a hybrid organic-inorganic structure of TiO2/Se/P3HT/PEDOT:PSS/Ag, in which the Se layer was prepared by vacuum thermal deposition and post thermal treatment. The microstructure, photoelectrical properties, as well as the rationality in structural design of the solar cell were illustrated in detail. Finally, the hybrid solar cell demonstrated a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 2.63%.