Improvement in the performance of inverted organic solar cell using electric field assisted spray deposited ZnO layer

ZnO film was deposited using spray technique. The application of electric field (applying a DC voltage = 700V to the nozzle) during spray deposition provide compact nanostructured film of ZnO as compared to agglomerated ZnO film deposited using spray process. The ZnO film deposited after applying DC voltage during spray process showed good crystallinity as well as transmittance in the visible range. Use of this crystalline, compact layer of ZnO in inverted organic solar cell (ITO/ZnO/P3HT: PCBM/Ag) provide improved efficiency of 2.8% with JSC of 14.0 mA/cm2, VOC of 0.55V and FF of 36%. Thus the process remove the need of any post deposition treatment to improve the film quality as well as solar cell performance.