Hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells based on blends of TiO2 nanorods and P3HT

Over the past decades, organic solar cells based on semiconducting polymers or small molecules have become a promising alternative to traditional inorganic photovoltaic devices. However, to address the intrinsic limitations of organic materials, such as charge separation yield, charge transport and durability, new strategies based on hybrid organic/inorganic materials have been explored. One such approach exploits mesoporous inorganic nanostructures as electron acceptors, which takes advantage of the potential to control the active layer structure and interface morphology through nanoparticle synthesis and processing. In this work, the potential of hybrid photovoltaics will be discussed and illustrated through a recent study of bulk heterojunction systems based on the blend of TiO2 nanorods with a conjugated polymer.