AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Frontiers in Inkjet Technology Topical Conference Monday Sessions
       Session IJ+BI+MN-MoM

Paper IJ+BI+MN-MoM5
Inkjet Printing of Flexible Hybrid Solar Cells based on P3HT and ZnO

Monday, October 18, 2010, 9:40 am, Room Tesuque

Session: Frontiers in Inkjet Technology
Presenter: G. Carryon, Drexel University
Authors: G. Carryon, Drexel University
J.B. Baxter, Drexel University
Y. Sun, Drexel University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Inkjet printing of organic solar cells offers an inexpensive alternative to conventional solar cell fabrication methods. Despite the attractiveness of organic solar cells, they have demonstrated some degradation problems and have yet to achieve the efficiencies necessary to make them economically viable. In contrast to their organic counterparts, inorganic semiconductors have demonstrated advantages in their high dielectric constant which facilitates carrier generation processes, high carrier mobility, and thermal morphological stability. In recent years, improvements in device performance have been seen in the development of organic-inorganic hybrid materials (e.g., ZnO nanoparticle-polymer composites or CdSe quantum dot-polymer composites) as the photoactive layer. To date, most studies on hybrid solar cell fabrication have focused on using lab-scale spin-coating methods to deposit ZnO nanoparticle-polymer materials. In this paper, we present our results in using an industrial piezoelectric-driven printing device for inkjet printing of ZnO nanoparticles/nanorods-polymer [e.g., poly(3-hexylthiophene (P3HT)] ink materials for large-scale processing of hybrid solar cells. The deposition morphology and properties of printed photoactive layer are examined as a function of the solvent properties (e.g., wettability and vapor pressure), particle size, volume fraction, and polydispersity, as well as the aspect ratio of nanorod. The effects of jetting parameters (e.g., wave form and jetting frequency) and printing patterns on film thickness and uniformity are also discussed in detail. Finally, the feasibility of printing P3HT onto aligned ZnO nanorod arrays for novel heterogonous nanostructures for reduced exciton diffusion lengths is explored.