Direct growth of metal sulfide nanoparticle networks in solid-state polymer films for hybrid inorganic-organic solar cells

Hybrid metal sulfide/polymer solar cell active layers are fabricated employing an approach based upon the in-situ thermal decomposition of a single source metal xanthate precursor in a semiconducting polymer film. The nanomorphology of the film, the charge photogeneration yield at the donor-acceptor heterojunction and device performance are shown to be dependent upon the annealing temperature. Photovoltaic devices based upon such layers are shown to exhibit power conversion efficiencies of 2.2% under AM1.5 solar illumination thus demonstrating the potential of such nanocomposite films for photovoltaic device applications.